O.  R.  C 


THE  GOSPEL  FOR 
AN   AGE  OF  DOUBT 


_^T1^^ 


THE  GOSPEL  FOR 
AN  AGE  OF  DOUBT 


tl)e  fait  iltautte  on  ptfatljtng 
1896 


BY 


HENRY   VAN    DYKE 

D.D.   (PRINCETON,  HARVARD,  YALE) 
PASTOR   OF   THE    BRICK   CHURCH   IN    NEW   YORK 


Bui  if  any  speak  not  concerning  Jesus  Christ, 

I  look  upon  them  as  tombstones  and  sepulchres 

of  the  dead,   on  which    are   written   only  the 

names  of  men." 

St.  Ignatius,  Epist.  ad  Phil. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

LONDON  :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
1897 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1896, 
By  the  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped   September,  1896.     Reprinted  December 
1896;  January,  1897. 


Norfajooti  iPrfSS 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith 

Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


FOEEWORD 


A  FEW  words  may  serve  to  make  the  aim 
of  this  book  more  plain  to  those  who  read 
it.  A  great  part  of  what  is  written  here  was 
spoken  to  the  students  of  divinity  at  Yale 
University  in  the  spring  of  1896,  as  one  of 
the  courses  of  "  Lectures  on  Preaching  "  which 
have  been  given  for  some  years  on  the  Lyman 
Beecher  Foundation.  But  I  must  frankly  con- 
fess that  a  strong  wish  to  say  something  which 
might  reach  beyond,  or,  better  still,  through, 
the  immediate  audience,  and  be  of  help  to  the 
wider  circle  of  men  and  women  who  care  for 
the  vital  problems  of  faith,  drew  me  aside 
from  the  usual  line  of  such  lectures  and  gave 
this  book  a  new  purpose. 

The  question  of  how  to  preach  is  highly 
interesting  to  students  for  the  ministry.  But 
it  has  already  been  answered  so  fully  and  so 
ably  by  those  who  have  jDreceded  me  in  this 
course  that  I  cannot  hope  to  add  anything 
of  value  to  their  various  counsels.  And  after 
all,    it   is   a   technical    question.     The   art    of 


vi  Foreword 

preaching,  important  and  beautiful  and  power- 
ful as  it  may  be,  is  only  a  part  of  the  larger 
art  of  life.  Religion  is  the  spiritual  secret 
of  this  larger  art  of  life.  The  force  of  relig- 
ion to  move  and  inspire  the  hearts  of  men 
lies  not  in  the  modes  and  forms  of  preaching, 
but  in  the  Gospel,  —  the  message  which  it 
brings  to  the  human  soul.  The  deep  ques- 
tion, the  important  question,  the  question  of 
widest  interest,  is  what  to  preach  to  the  men 
and  women  of  to-day,  to  cheer  them,  to  up- 
lift them,  to  lead  them  back  to  faith,  and 
through  faith  to  a  brave,  full,  iioble  life. 
This  is  the  question  for  which  I  have  tried, 
at  least,  to  point  the  way  to  an  answer. 

What  is  the  word  of  spiritual  life  and  power 
for  the  jDi'esent  age?  Evidently  it  must  be  a 
real  gospel,  a  word  of  gladness  and  a  word 
of  God.i  j^  ^y[}}  j-^Q^  (]^Q  ^Q  teach  for  doc- 
trines the  commandments  of  men.  Tradition 
is  powerless.  Dry  systems  of  dogma  cannot 
quicken  the  soul.  The  preacher's  message 
must  come  to  him  from  a  heavenly  source, 
and  take  hold  upon  him  with  the  charm  of 
a  divine  novelty.  It  must  be  so  fresh,  so 
vivid,  so  original  to  his  own  heart  that  he 
cannot  help  wanting  to  tell  it  to  the  world. 
1  See  Appendix,  Note  1. 


Foreivord  vii 

This  wonderful  sense  of  newness  in  the  gos- 
pel is  Avhat  makes  men  long  to  preach  it 
and  the  world  glad  to  hear  it. 

But  it  is  no  less  plain  that  the  message,  in 
a  certain  sense,  must  also  be  old.  It  cannot 
be  out  of  touch  with  the  past.  It  must  be 
in  line  with  the  upward  movement  of  human- 
ity through  the  ages.  It  must  be  in  reverent 
harmony  with  the  faith  and  hope  and  love 
which  have  already  cheered  sind  purified  and 
blessed  the  best  of  human  lives.  An  alto- 
gether new  religion  can  hardly  be  an  alto- 
gether true  religion. 

NoAV  the  solution  of  this  apparent  difficulty 
—  the  reconciling  of  the  old  and  the  new  — 
lies  in  a  personal  view  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  effort  to  get  such  a  view,  for 
every  age  and  for  every  man,  results  in  a  thrill- 
ing and  joyful  sense  of  new  discovery  of  an  old 
and  changeless  truth.  One  way  in  which  this 
feeling  of  newness  comes  is  through  the  neces- 
sity of  clearing  away  the  human  accretions  which 
have  gathered  about  the  gospel.  Christianity 
always  has  been,  and  probably  always  will  be, 
subject  to  obscuration  and  misunderstanding. 
It  has  been  presented  as  a  complex  system  of 
doctrine.  In  reality,  it  is  a  spiritual  life. 
The  arguments  used   to  defend  it   have  often 


VIU 


Foretvord 


become  hindrances  to  its  acceptance.  The 
formulas  framed  to  express  it  have  often  hid- 
den Him  who  is  its  true  and  only  centre. 
Christ  is  Christianity.  To  find  God  in  Him, 
to  trust  and  love  God  in  Him,  is  to  be  a 
Christian.  To  preach  Him,  in  the  language 
of  to-day,  to  the  men  of  to-day,  for  the  needs 
of  to-day,  1  is  to  preach  a  gospel  as  new  and 
as  old  as  life  itself. 

This  is  the  thing  in  which  Christianity  dif- 
fers from  all  other  religions.  It  has  a  Person 
at  the  heart  of  it ;  a  Person  who  is  as  real  as 
we  are ;  a  Person  who  carries  in  Himself  the 
evidence  of  a  spiritual  world  ;  a  Person  who 
has  proved  in  myriads  of  souls  His  power  to 
save  men,  not  only  from  the  evil  of  sin,  but 
also  from  the  gloom  of  doubt.  He  is  the  only 
steadfast  Light  shining  through  the  deep,  star- 
less night  of  scepticism  that  has  overspread 
our  proud  and  unhappy  modern  world.  To 
see  Him  is  to  be  sure  of  God  and  immortality. 
Such  a  Person  could  not  have  lived  if  the 
universe  were  a  mere  product  of  matter  and 
force.  It  would  be  easier  to  think  that  the 
floating  clouds  of  sunset  could  beget  out  of 
their  vaporous  bosoms  a  solid  and  eternal 
mountain  peak,  than  that  the  vain  and  vague 
1  See  Appendix,  Note  2. 


Foreivord  ix 

dreams  of  spiritual  life  rising  from  a  human- 
ity born  only  of  the  dust,  and  fated  to  crumble 
altogether  into  dust  again,  could  have  pro- 
duced such  a  firm  and  glorious  reality  as  the 
character  and  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 
This  is  the  foundation  of  faith,  to  believe 
that  Christ  is  "  the  revelation  of  the  true 
meaning  and  the  realization  of  the  true  des- 
tination of  every  man ;  and  that  in  Him  as 
the  personal  incarnation  and  reproduction  of 
the  personal  God  in  our  personal  selves,  we 
and  the  whole  creation  shall  come  into  our 
divine  inheritance."^ 

We  must  get  back  from  the  confusions  of 
theology  to  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ. 
We  must  see  clearly  that  our  central  message 
is  not  the  gospel  of  a  system,  but  the  gospel  of 
a  Person.  We  must  hold  fast  the  true  humanity 
of  Jesus  in  order  that  we  may  knoAv  what  is 
meant  by  His  true  divinity.  We  must  recognize 
His  supreme  authority  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  Bible  itself.  We  must  accept  His  revela- 
tions of  human  liberty  and  divine  sovereignty. 
Above  all,  we  must  accept  His  great  truth  of 
election  to  service  as  our  only  salvation  from 
the  curse  of  sin,  which  is  selfishness. 

1  W.  P.  Du  Bose,  S.  T.  D.,  The  Soteriology  of  the  New 
Testament  (New  York,  1892),  p.  171. 


X  Foreword 

If  the  following  of  this  course  should  lead 
us  to  break  with  some  time-honoured  dogmas 
and  definitions,  let  us  only  be  careful  to  see 
to  it  that  our  sole  desire  and  aim  is  to  discern 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  more  clearly  and 
preach  it  more  simply.  If  it  should  lead  us 
to  new  modes  of  speech  and  forms  of  expres- 
sion, let  them  grow  only  out  of  the  earnest 
effort  to  bring  religion  more  closely  home  to 
the  real  lives  of  men.  Our  age  has  its  own 
character,  its  own  perils,  its  own  needs,  its 
own  hopes  and  aspirations.  The  only  gospel 
that  it  is  worth  while  to  preach  must  stand 
in  vital  relation  and  speak  with  vital  power 
to  the  present  age. 

This  is  the  line  that  I  have  tried  to  follow 
in  this  book.  I  have  added  a  full  appendix 
of  notes,  chiefly  from  recent  writers,  with  a 
twofold  purpose.  First,  to  make  it  clear  by 
the  sorrowful  and  confused  confessions  of 
modern  doubt  how  much  the  age  needs  a 
gospel ;  and,  second,  to  show  how  many  men 
of  all  classes  are  moving  in  the  same  direc- 
tion,—  towards  a  renewal  of  faith.  In  truth, 
if  the  evils  and  dangers  of  the  age  are  great, 
its  encouragements  are  even  greater.  The  ex- 
periment of  a  secular  unbelief  has  never  been 
tried  on  such  a  large  and  splendid  scale,  with 


Foreword  xi 

such  blank  and  desperate  failure.  The  long- 
ings and  efforts  of  the  world  to  attain  a 
higher,  happier  existence  for  all  men  have 
never  been  more  generous  and  ardent.  With 
the  materialism,  the  sensuality,  the  pride  of  our 
age,  Christianity  stands  in  confiicto  With  the 
altruism,  the  humanity,  the  sympathy  of  our 
age,  Christianity  must  stand  in  loving  and 
wise  alliance.  A  simpler  creed  and  a  nobler 
life  will  prepare  the  way  for  a  renaissance  of 
religion  greater  and  more  potent  than  the 
world  has  known  for  centuries.  It  seems  as 
if  we  stood  on  the  brightening  border  of  the 
new  day.  The  watchword  of  its  coming  is 
the  personal  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom 
we  find  the  ideal  man  and  the  real  God. 


Forest  Hills  Lodge,  Franconia, 
July  10th,  1896. 


CONTENTS 


LECTURE 

I.     An  Age  of  Doubt 


II. 

The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

III. 

The  Unveiling  of  the  Father      . 

IV. 

The  Human  Life  of  God 

y. 

The  Source  of  Authority     . 

YI. 

Liberty      

VII. 

Sovereignty 

VIII. 

Service 

Appendix 

PAGE 

1 

41 
81 
123 
167 
203 
245 
281 

319 


AN   AGE   OF   DOUBT 


"Cleave  ever  to  the  sunnier  side  of  doubt, 
And  cling  to  Faith  beyond  the  forms  of  Faith  ! 
She  reels  not  in  the  storm  of  warring  words, 
She  brightens  at  the  clash  of  '  Yes '  and  '  No,' 
She  sees  the  Best  that  glimmers  thro'  the  Worst, 
She  feels  the  Sun  is  hid  but  for  a  night, 
She  spies  the  summer  thro'  the  winter  bud, 
She  tastes  the  fruit  before  the  blossom  falls. 
She  hears  the  lark  within  the  songless  egg, 
She  finds  the  fountain  where  they  wail'd  '  Mirage  ' ! '' 
—  Tennyson,  The  Ancient  Sage. 


AN   AGE   OF   DOUBT 


There  is  one  point  in  which  all  men  resem-   The  pen 


ble  each  other :  it  is  that  they  are  all  different. 
But  their  differences  are  not  fixed  and  immuta- 
ble. They  are  variable  and  progressive.  Types 
of  character  survive  or  perish,  like  the  forms 
of  animal  life.  Some  predominate  ;  others  are 
subordinated. 

Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  underneath  all 
the  diversities  of  individual  life,  we  may  dis- 
cern, not  with  the  clearness  of  a  portrait,  but 
with  the  vague  outlines  of  a  composite  photo- 
graph, the  features  of  a  Zeitgeist^  a  spirit  of 
the  time.  Generations  differ  almost  as  much 
as  the  men  who  compose  them.  There  is  a 
personal  equation  in  every  age. 

To  know  this  is  a  necessity  for  the  preacher. 
Even  as  the  physician  must  apprehend  the  idio- 
syncrasy of  his  patient,  and  the  teacher  must 
recognize  the  quality  of  his  pupil,  so  must  the 
preacher  be  in  touch  with  his  age. 
3 


al  equation 
of  the  age. 


4  An  Age  of  Doubt 

Literature  j^i  endeavouring  to  arrive  at  this  knowledge, 

of  life.  contact  with  the  world  is  of  the  first  conse- 

quence. For  one  who  desires  to  make  men  and 
women  what  they  ought  to  be,  nothing  can 
take  the  place  of  an  acquaintance  with  men 
and  women  as  they  are.  It  seems  to  me  that 
one  of  the  best  means  of  obtaining  this  ac- 
quaintance is  througli  literature,  —  not  that 
highly  specialized  and  more  or  less  technical 
variety  of  literature  which  is  produced  ex- 
pressly for  certain  classes  of  readers,  but  liter- 
ature in  the  broader  sense,  as  it  appeals  to 
cultivated  and  intelligent  people  in  general, 
including  contemporary  history  and  criticism, 
poetry  and  fiction,  popular  philosoph}^  and  di- 
luted science.  This  kind  of  literature  is  the 
efflorescence  of  the  Zeitgeist.  It  is  at  once  a 
product^  and  a  cause,  of  the  temperament  of 
the  age.  In  it  we  see  not  only  what  certain 
men  have  written  by  way  of  comment  on  the 
movement  of  the  times,  but  also  what  a  great 
many  men  are  reading  while  they  move.  It 
expresses,  and  it  creates,  a  spirit,  an  attitude 
of  mind.  "  I  do  not  imagine,"  says  a  keen 
observer,  "  that  I  am  announcing  an  altogether 
novel  truth  in  affirming  that  literature  is  one  of 
the  elements  of  the  ethical  life, — the  most  im- 
portant perhaps  ;  for  in  the  decline,  more  and 


of  yenej^al 
reading. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  ^ 

more. evident,  of  traditional  and  local  influences, 
the  book  is  taking  its  place  as  the  great  ini- 
tiator." ^ 

P  For  this  reason  I  believe  that  a  course  in  The  value 
I  modern  novels  and  poetry  might  well  be  made 
f  a  part  of  every  scheme  of  preparation  for  the 
ministry.  The  preacher  who  does  not  know 
what  his  people  are  reading  does  not  know  his 
people.  He  will  miss  the  significance  of  the 
current  talk  of  society,  and  even  of  the  daily 
comments  of  the  newspapers,  which  are  in  fact 
only  a  cheap  substitute  for  conversation,  unless 
he  has  the  key  to  it  in  the  tone  of  popular 
literature.  It  is  from  this  source  that  I  have 
drawn  many  of  the  illustrations  for  this  lecture. 
If  they  appear  unfamiliar  or  out  of  23lace  in  a 
theological  seminary,  I  can  only  say  that  they 
seem  to  me  none  the  less,  but  perhaps  the  more, 
significant  and  valuable  on  that  account.  For 
I  think  that  one  of  the  causes  by  which,  as 
John  Foster  wrote  seventy  years  ago,  "  Evan- 
gelical Religion  has  been  rendered  unaccepta- 
ble to  persons  of  cultivated  taste,"  ^  has  been 
a  certain  ill-disguised  contempt  on  the  part  of 

1  Paul  Bourget,  Essais  de  Fsychologie  Contemporaine^ 
Paris,  1895.     See  Appendix,  note  3. 

2  John  Foster,  Essays,  "  On  the  Aversion  of  Men  of  Taste 
to  Evangelical  Religion,"  p.  188. 


6  An  Age  of  Doubt 

persons  of  orthodox  opinions  for  what  they 
are  pleased  to  call,  "mere  belles-lettres.''  And 
though  I  do  not  fancy  that  there  is  any  sym- 
pathy with  that  frame  of  mind  in  this  place, 
yet  the  occasion  seems  opportune  for  saying 
in  a  definite  way  that  the  preacher  who  wishes 
to  speak  to  this  age  must  read  many  books  in 
order  that  he  may  be  in  a  position  to  make  the 
best  use  of  what  Sir  Walter  Scott  called  ''  the 
one  Book."  He  must  keep  himself  in  touch 
with  modern  life  by  studying  modern  litera- 
ture, which  is  one  of  its  essential  factors. 


A  doubting  As  soon  as  we  step  out  of  the  theological  cir- 
cle into  the  broad  field  of  general  reading  we 
see  that  we  are  living  in  an  age  of  doubt. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  tliis  is  the  only 
feature  in  the  physiognomy  of  the  age.  It 
has  many  other  aspects,  from  any  one  of  whicli 
we  might  pick  a  name.  From  the  material 
side,  we  might  call  it  an  age  of  progress  ; 
from  the  intellectual  side,  an  age  of  science ; 
from  the  medical  side,  an  age  of  hysteria ;  from 
the  political  side,  an  age  of  democracy;  from 
the  commercial  side,  an  age  of  advertisement ; 
from  the  social  side,  an  age  of  publicomania. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  7 

But  looking  at  it  from  the  spiritual  side,  which 
is  the  preacher's  point  of  view,  and  considering 
that  interior  life  to  which  every  proclamation 
of  a  gospel  must  be  addressed,  beyond  a  doubt 
it  stands  confessed  as  a  doubting  age. 

There  is   a   profound   and    wide-spread   un-    The  ques- 
settlement  of   soul   in  reg'ard   to   fundamental    ^^.'"^-^ 

^  spirit. 

truths  of  religion,  and  also  in  regard  to  the 
nature  and  existence  of  the  so-called  spiritual 
faculties  by  which  alone  these  truths  can  be 
perceived.  In  its  popular  manifestations,  this 
unsettlement  takes  the  form  of  uncertainty 
rather  than  of  denial,  of  unbelief  rather  than 
of  disbelief,  of  general  scepticism  rather  than  \ 
of  specific  infidelity.  ^  The  questioning  spirit 
is  abroad,  moving  on  the  face  of  the  waters,  i 
seeking  rest  and  finding  none. 

It  is  not  merely  that  particular  doctrines, 
such  as  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  or  the 
future  punishment  of  the  wicked,  are  attacked 
and  denied.  The  preacher  who  concentrates 
his  attention  at  these  points  will  fail  to  realize 
the  gravit}^  of  the  situation.  It  is  not  that  a 
spirit  of  bitter  and  mocking  atheism,  such  as 
Bishop  Butler  described  at  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  has  led  people  of  discernment 
to  set  up  religion  ''as  a  principal  subject  of 
1  See  Apioendix,  note  4. 


8  All  Age  of  Bouht 

mirth  and  ridicule,  as  it  were  by  way  of  re- 
prisal for  its  having  so  long  interrupted  the 
pleasures  of  the  world."  ^  The  preacher  who 
takes  that  view  of  the  case  now  will  be  at 
least  fifty  years  too  late.  He  will  fail  to 
understand  the  serious  and  pathetic  temper  of 
the  age. 
Respectful  The  questioning  spirit   of   to-day  is  severe 

unbelief.  ^      ,  ,     ^  •  ^   .       , 

but  not  bitter,  restless  but  not  frivolous ;  it 
takes  itself  very  seriously  and  aj^plies  its  meth- 
ods of  criticism,  of  analysis,  of  dissolution, 
with  a  sad  courtesy  of  demeanour,  to  the  deep- 
est and  most  vital  truths  of  religion,  the  being 
of  God,  the  reality  of  the  soul,  the  possibility 
of  a  future  life.  Everywhere  it  comes  and 
everywhere  it  asks  for  a  reason,  in  the  shape 
of  a  positive  and  scientific  demonstration. 
When  one  is  given,  it  asks  for  another,  and 
when  another  is  given,  it  asks  for  the  reason 
of  the  reason.  The  laws  of  evidence,  the  prin- 
ciples of  judgment,  the  witness  of  history,  the 
testimony  of  consciousness,  —  all  are  called  in 
question.  The  answers  which  have  been  given 
by  religion  to  the  most  difficult  and  pressing 
problems  of  man's  inner  life  are  declared  to 
be  unsatisfactory  and  without  foundation.     The 

^  Joseph  Butler,  The  Analogy  of  Beligion  (London,  Bell 
&  Daldy,  1858).     "Advertisement,"  p.  xxiv. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  9 

question  remains  unsolved.  Is  it  insoluble? 
The  age  stands  in  doubt.  Its  coat-of-arms  is 
an  interrogation  point  rampant,  above  three 
bishops  dormant,  and  its  motto  is   Querijf 


n 

If  we  inquire  the  cause,  of  this  general  seep-   Causes  of 

...  ,  T     •  ,  1  scepticism. 

ticism  m  regard  to  religion,  the  common  answer 
from  all  sides  would  probably  attribute  it  to 
the  progress  of  science.  I  do  not  feel  satisfied 
with  this  answer.  At  least  I  should  wish  to 
qualify  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  it  a  very 
different  meaning  from  that  which  is  implied  in 
the  current  phrase  "  the  conflict  between  science 
and  religion." 

Science,  in  itself  considered,  the  orderly  and  '  Science  not 

1     1  PIT  1         •  hostile  to 

reasoned  knowledge  ol  the  phenomenal  universe  religion. 
of  things  and  events,  ought  not  to  be,  and  has 
not  been,  hostile  to  religion,  simply  because  it 
does  not,  and  cannot,  enter  into  the  same  sphere. 
The  great  advance  which  has  been  made  in  the 
observation  and  classification  of  sensible  facts, 
and  in  the  induction  of  so-called  general  laws 
under  which  those  facts  may  be  arranged  for  pur- 
poses of  study,  has  not  even  touched  the  two 
questions  upon  the  answer  to  which  the  reality 
and  nature  of  religion  depend  :  first,  the  pos- 


10  An  Age  of  Doubt 

sible  existence  of  other  facts  wliicli  physical 
science  cannot  observe  and  classify  ;  and  sec- 
ond, the  probable  explanation  of  these  facts. 
The  task  of  What  has  happened  is  just  this.  The  field  in 
'changed, hut  which  faith  has  to  work  has  been  altered,  and 
enlarged.  it  seems  to  me  enormously  broadened.  But 
the  work  remains  the  same.  The  question  is 
whether  faith  has  enough  vital  energy  to  face 
and  accomplish  it.  For  example,  the  material 
out  of  which  to  construct  an  argument  from 
the  evidences  of  final  cause  in  nature  has  been 
incalculably  increased  by  the  discoveries  of  the 
last  fifty  years  in  regard  to  natural  selection 
and  the  origin  of  species.  The  observant  wan- 
derer in  the  field  of  nature  to-day  no  longer 
stumbles  upon  Dr.  Paley's  old-fashioned,  open- 
faced,  turnip-shaped  watch  lying  on  the  ground. 
He  finds,  instead,  an  intricate  and  self-adjusting 
chronometer,  capable  not  only  of  marking  time 
with  accuracy,  but  also  of  evolving  by  its  own 
operation  another  more  perfect  and  delicate 
instrument,  with  qualities  and  powers  which 
adapt  themselves  to  their  surroundings  and  so 
advance  forever.  The  idea  of  final  cause  has 
not  been  touched.  Only  the  region  which  it 
must  illuminate  has  been  vastly  enlarged.  It 
remains  to  be  seen  whether  faith  can  supply 
the  illuminating  power.     Already  we  have  the 


A71  Age  of  Doubt  11 

promise  of  an  answer  in  many  books,  by  mas- 
ters of  science  and  pliilosojDby,  who  show  that 
the  theory  of  evolution  demands  for  its  com- 
pletion the  recognition  of  the  spiritual  nature 
of  man  and  the  belief  in  an  intelligent  and  per- 
sonal God.i 

The  spread  of  scepticism  is  often  attributed  The  expan- 
to  the  growth  of  our  conception  of  the  physical  knowledge. 
magnitude  of  the  universe.  The  bewildering 
numbers  and  distances  of  the  stars,  the  gigan- 
tic masses  of  matter  in  motion,  and  the  tremen- 
dous sweep  of  the  forces  Avhich  drive  our  tiny 
earth  along  like  a  grain  of  dust  in  an  orderly 
whirlwind,  are  supposed  to  have  overwhelmed 
and  stunned  the  power  of  spiritual  belief  in 
man.  The  account  seems  to  me  incorrect  and 
unconvincing.  I  observe  that  precisely  the  ' 
same  argument  was  used  by  Job  and  Isaiah 
and  the  Psalmists  to  lead  to  a  conclusion  of 
faith.  The  striking  dis23roportion  between 
the  littleness  of  man  and  the  greatness  of  the 
stars  was  to  them  a  demonstration  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  religion  to  solve  the  equation.  They 
saw  in  the  heavens  the  glory  of  God.  And  if 
man  to-day  knows  vastly  more  of  the  heavens, 
does  not  that  put  him  in  position  to  receive  a 
larger  and  loftier  vision  of  the  glory  ? 
1  See  Appendix,  note  5. 


12 


A7i  Age  of  Doubt 


Devoid  men 
of  pure  sci- 
ence. 


The  ai^o- 
f/ance  of 
science 
falsely  so- 
culled. 


We  observe,  moreover,  that  it  is  just  in  those 
departments  of  science  where  the  knowledge  of 
the  magnitude  and  splendid  order  of  the  physi- 
cal universe  is  most  clear  and  exact,  namely,  in 
astronomy  and  mathematics,  that  we  find  the 
most  illustrious  men  of  science  who  have  not 
been  sceptics  but  sincere  and  steadfast  believ- 
ers in  the  Christian  religion.  Kepler  and  I 
Newton  were  men  of  faith.  The  most  brill- 
iant galaxy  of  mathematicians  ever  assembled 
at  one  time  and  place  was  at  the  University  of 
Cambridge  in  the  latter  half  of  this  century. 
Of  these  "  Sir  W.  Thomson,  Sir  George  Stokes, 
Professors  Tait,  Adams,  Clerk-Maxwell,  and 
Cayley  —  not  to  mention  a  number  of  lesser 
lights,  such  as  Routh,  Todhunter,  Ferrers,  etc. 
—  were  all  avowed  Christians."^  Surely  it 
needs  no  further  proof  to  show  that  the  pur- 
suit of  pure  science  does  not  necessarily  tend 
to  scepticism. 

No,  we  must  look  more  closely  and  distin- 
guish more  clearly  in  order  to  discover  in  the 
scientific  activities  of  the  age  a  cause  of  the 
prevailing  doubt.  And  if  we  do  this  I  think 
we  shall  find  it  in  the  fallacy  of  that  kind  of 
science  which  mistakes  itself  for  omniscience. 


1  George  John  Romanes,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.,  Thoughts 
on  Beligion  (Chicago,  1895)^  p.  147. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  13 

''  What  we  see  is  the  pretence  of  certain  sci- 
ences to  represent  in  themselves  all  human 
knowledge.  And  as  outside  of  knowledge 
there  is  no  longer,  in  the  eyes  of  science  thus 
curtailed,  any  means  for  man  to  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  realities,  we  see  the  pretence 
advanced  by  some  that  all  reality  and  all  life 
should  be  reduced  to  that  which  they  have  ver- 
ified. Outside  of  this  there  are  only  dreams 
and  illusions.  This  is  indeed  too  much.  It  is 
no  longer  science,  but  scientific  absolutism. "^ 

"  The  history  of  the  natural  sciences,"  said 
Du  Bois-Reymond  in  1877,  "  is  the  veritable 
history  of  mankind."  "The  world,"  says  an- 
other, "is  made  of  atoms  and  ether,  and  there 
is  no  room  for  ghosts."  M.  Berthelot  in  the 
preface  to  his  Origines  de  Valchimie^  modestly 
claims  that  "  the  world  to-day  is  without  mys- 
teries " ;  meaning  thereby,  I  suppose,  that 
there  is  nothing  in  existence,  from  the  crys-  ' 
tallization  of  a  diamond  to  the  character  of  a  i 
saint,  which  cannot  be  investigated  and  ex- 
plained by  means  of  a  crucible,  a  blow-pipe,  a 
microscope,  and  a  few  other  tools. 

This   is   simply  begging   the    question   of   a  Animmense 
spiritual  world  in  the  negative.     It  is  an  im-   ««s«»^i^«^o'^- 

1  Charles  Wagner,  Youth,  translated  from  the  French  by 
Ernest  Redwood  (New  York,  1893),  p.  28. 


14  An  Age  of  Doubt 

mense  and  stupefying  assumption.  It  is  a 
claim  to  solve  the  problems  of  the  inner  life 
by  suppressing  them.  This  claim  is  not  in  any 
sense  necessary  to  the  existence  of  science,  nor 
to  any  degree  supported  by  the  work  which 
it  has  actually  accomplished.  But  it  is  made 
with  a  calm  assurance  which  imposes  power- 
fully upon  the  popular  mind  ;  and,  being  made 
in  the  name  of  science,  it  carries  with  it  an 
appearance  of  authority  borrowed  from  the 
great  service  which  science  has  rendered  to 
humanity  by  its  discoveries  in  the  sphere  of 
the  visible. 
Results  of  The   result    of   this  petitio  principii   in   the 

minds  of  those  who  accept  it  fully  and  carry 
it  out  to  its  logical  conclusion,  is  a  definite 
system  of  metaphysical  negation  which  goes 
under  the  various  names  of  Naturalism,  Posi- 
tivism, Empiricism,  and  Agnosticism.  Its  re- 
sult in  tlie  minds  of  those  who  accept  it 
partially  and  provisionally,  but  lack  the  abil- 
ity or  the  inclination  to  formulate  it,  is  the 
development  of  a  sceptical  temper.  Its  result 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  unconsciously 
affected  by  it,  through  those  profound  instincts 
of  sympathy  and  involuntary  imitation  which 
influence  all  men,  is  an  attitude,  —  more  or 
less  sincere,  more  or  less  consistent  and   con- 


thls  assump 
tion. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  15 

tinuous,  —  an  attitude  of  doubt.  The  spirit 
of  the  age  tacitly  divides  all  the  various 
beliefs  which  are  held  among  men  into  two 
classes.  Those  which  are  supported  by  sci- 
entific proof  must  be  accepted.  Those  which 
are  not  thus  supported  either  must  be  re- 
jected, or  may  safely  and  properly  be  disre- 
garded as  matters  of  no  consequence. 


in 

Now    this    general     scepticism,    in    all    its  The  nm^or 

shades  and  degrees,  from  the  most  clear,  self-  J^^^/^/^'g"  ^'^ 

conscious,  and  aggressive,  to  the  most  vague,  shadoio  of 


diffused,  and  deprecatory,  is  reflected  in  the 
productions  of  current  literature.  Never  was 
literary  art  more  perfect,  more  accomplished, 
more  versatile  and  successful  than  in  the  pres- 
ent age.  Never  have  its  laws  been  more  widely 
understood  and  its  fascinations  more  potently 
exercised.  Never  has  it  evoked  more  magical 
and  charming  forms  to  float  above  an  abyss 
of  disenchantment  and  nothingness. 

In  tlie  lay  sermons  and  essays  of  Huxley 
and  Tyndall  and  Frederic  Harrison  and  W.  K. 
Clifford,  scepticism  appears  militant  and  trencli- 
ant.  These  knights-errant  of  Doubting  Castle 
are  brilliantly  equipped   as  men  of   war ;    and 


doubt. 


16  An  Age  of  Doubt 

even  when  they  fall  foul  of  each  other,  as  they 
often  do,  the  ground  of  the  conflict  is  an  accu- 
sation of  infidelity  to  the  principles  of  unbelief, 
and  its  object  is  to  drive  the  adversary  back 
into  a  more  complete  and  consistent  negation. 

Over  the  fragmentary  but  majestic  life- 
philosophies  of  Carlyle  and  Emerson,  lying 
in  the  disarray  of  stones  hewn  for  a  temple 
yet  unbuilt,  imaginative  scepticism  hangs  like 
a  cloud.  Over  Carlyle,  it  is  the  shadow  of 
a  noonday  tempest,  full  of  darkness  and  tu- 
mult and  muttering  thunder.  Over  Emerson, 
it  floats  like  a  cumulus  of  evening  vapours, 
luminous  and  beautiful,  alluringly  transfigured 

"In  the  golden  lightning 

Of  the  sunken  sun."  ^ 

In  the  vivid  and  picturesque  historical 
studies  of  Renan  and  Froude,  scepticism  is 
at  once  ironical  and  idealistic,  destructive  and 
dogmatic.  In  the  penetrative  and  intelligent 
critiques  of  Scherer  and  Morley,  it  adheres 
with  proud  but  illogical  persistence  to  the 
ethical  consequences  of  the  faith  with  which 
logic  has  broken  :  like  a  son  disinherited,  but 
resolved  to  maintain  the  riglit  of  possession 
by  the  strong  arm. 

1  Shelley,  "  Ode  to  a  Skylark." 


An  Age  of  Doubt  17 

In  the  novels  of  unflinching  and  unbhishing  Fiction 
naturalism,  —  like  those  of  Zola  and  Maupassant  ^^^^"^y* 
and  the  later  works  of  Thomas  Hardy,  scejDticism 
speaks  with  a  harsh  and  menacing  accent  of  the 
emptiness  of  all  life  and  the  futility  of  all 
endeavour.  In  the  psychological  romances  of 
Flaubert  and  Bourget  and  Spielhagen,  George 
Eliot  and  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward,  it  holds  the 
mirror  up  to  human  nature  to  disclose  a  face 
darkened  with  inconsolable  regret  for  lost 
dreams.  Far  apart  as  Madame  Bovary  and 
Cosmopolis^  Prohlematische  Naturen  and  Middle- 
march  and  Robert  Elsmere  may  be  in  many  of 
their  features,  do  they  not  wear  the  same  ex- 
pression, —  the  cureless  melancholy  of  disil- 
lusion ? 

Fiction  in  its  more  superficial  form,  dealing 
only  with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  so- 
cial drama,  and  relying  for  its  interest  mainly 
upon  local  colour  and  the  charm  of  incident 
narrated  with  vivacity  and  grace,  betrays  its 
scepticism  by  a  serene,  unconscious  disregard 
of  the  part  which  religion  plays  in  real  life.^ 
In  how  many  of  the  lighter  novels  of  the  day 
do  we  find  any  recognition,  even  between  the 
lines,  of  the  influence  which  the  idea  of  God  or 
its  absence,  the  practice  of  prayer  or  its  neg- 
1  See  Appendix,  note  6. 
c 


18  A7i  Age  of  Doubt 

lect,  actually  exercise  upon  the  character  and 
conduct  of  men?  Take,  for  example,  Trilhy^^  as 
the  type  of  a  clever  book  carelessly  written  for 
the  thoughtless  public  of  a  passing  moment.  It 
is  incredibly  credulous  in  regard  to  the  dramatic 
possibilities  of  hypnotism.  It  is  pitifully  in- 
adequate in  its  conception  of  the  actual  poten- 
cies of  religion  ;  and  it  uses  Christianity  chiefly 
as  a  subject  for  caricature  in  the  style  of  the 
illustrated  newspapers,  which  are  called  comic. 
Poetry  de-  Poetry  has  always  been  the  most  direct  and 

spo7idenL  ij^timate  utterance  of  the  human  heart.  And 
it  is  in  poetry  that  we  hear  to-day  the  voice 
of  scepticism  most  clearly,  ''  making  abundant 
music  around  an  elementary  nihilism,  now 
stripped  naked."  ^  Listen  to  its  sonorous  chant- 
ings  as  they  come  from  France  in  the  verse  of 
Leconte  de  Lisle,  celebrating  the  sombre  ritual 
of  human  automata  before  the  altar  of  the  un- 
known and  almighty  tyrant,  who  agitates  them 
endlessly  for  his  own  amusement.  Listen  to 
its  delicate  and  decadent  lyrics,  as  Charles 
Baudelaire  sings  his  defeat  in  life  and  his 
thirst  for  annihilation. 

"Morne  esprit,  autrefois  amoureux  de  la  lutte, 
L'Espoir  dont  I'eperon  attisait  ton  ardeur 

1  George  Dii  Maurier,  Trilby  (Harpers,  1895). 

2  Paul  Desjardiiis,  Le  Devoir  Present  (Paris,  1892),  p.  65. 


An  Age  of  Douht  19 

Ne  veut  plus  t'enfourcher.     Coiiche  toi  sans  pudeur, 
Vieux  cheval  dont  le  pied  a  chaque  obstacle  butte. 

Resigne-toi,  moii  coeiir,  dors  ton  sommeil  de  brute. 

VA  le  Temps  ni'engioutit  minute  par  minute 
Comme  la  neige  immense  un  corps  pris  de  roideur: 
Je  contemple  d'en  haut  le  globe  en  sa  rondeur 
Et  je  n'y  cherche  plus  I'abri  d'une  cahute ! 

Avalanche,  veux  tu  m'emporter  dans  ta  chute?"  ^ 

Turn  to  England  and  hear  its  musical  con- 
fession in  the  cool,  sad,  melodious  tones  of 
Matthew  Arnold,  no  enemy  of  faith,  but  her 
disenchanted  lover. 

"  Forgive  me,  masters  of  the  mind, 
At  whose  behest  I  long  ago 
So  much  unlearned,  so  much  resigned  — 
I  come  not  here  to  be  your  foe; 
I  seek  these  anchorites  not  in  ruth, 
To  curse  and  to  deny  your  truth  ; 

Not  as  their  friend,  or  child,  I  speak 

But  as  on  some  far  northern  strand. 

Thinking  of  his  ovv^n  gods,  a  Greek, 

In  pity  and  mournful  awe  might  stand 

Before  a  fallen  Runic  stone,  — 

For  both  were  faiths,  and  both  are  gone."  ^ 

There  is  a  poem  by  Tennyson  (who  never 
broke  with  faith,  though  he  felt  the  strain  of 

1  Charles  Baudelaire,  Flcurs  du  Mai  (Paris,  1888),  p.  205. 
"  Le  gout  du  N^ant." 

2  Matthew  Arnold,  Poems  (New  York,  Macmillan,  1878), 
p.  337.     "  Stanzas  from  the  Grande  Chartreuse." 


20 


An  Age  of  Doubt 


doubt),    in   which   he    describes   with    intense 
dramatic   sympathy  the   finality  of   scepticism 
in   the   human   soul.     It  is  called  "Des]3air." 
A  picture  0/   There  is  another  poem,  called  "Sea  Dreams," 
doubt.  ill  which  he  gives  a  vision  of  the  rising  tide  of 

doubt  as  it  threatens  to  undermine  and  over- 
whelm the  beliefs  of  the  past.  The  woman  is 
telling  her  husband  the  dream  which  came  to 
her  in  the  night  as  she  watched  by  their  sick 
child. 

"  But  round  the  North,  a  light, 
A  belt,  it  seem'd,  of  luminous  vapour,  lay, 
And  ever  in  it  a  low^  musical  note 
Sweird  up  and  died ;  and,  as  it  swell'd,  a  ridge 
Of  breaker  issued  from  the  belt,  and  still 
Grew  with  the  growing  note,  and  when  the  note 
Had  reach'd  a  thunderous  fulness,  on  those  cliffs 
Broke,  mixt  with  awful  light  (the  same  as  that 
Living  within  the  belt)  whereby  she  saw 
That  all  those  lines  of  cliffs  were  cliffs  no  more, 
But  huge  cathedral  fronts  of  every  age, 
Grave,  florid,  stern,  as  far  as  eye  could  see. 
One  after  one :  and  then  the  great  ridge  drew, 
Lessening  to  the  lessening  music,  back, 
And  passed  into  the  belt  and  swell'd  again 
Slowly  to  music  :  ever  when  it  broke 
The  statues,  king,  or  saint,  or  founder,  fell ; 
Then  from  the  gaps  and  chasms  of  ruin  left 
Came  men  and  women  in  dark  clusters  round. 
Some  crying,  '  Set  them  up !  they  shall  not  fall ! ' 
And  others,  '  Let  them  lie,  for  they  have  fall'n.' 
And  still  they  strove  and  wrangled  :  .  .  . 
.  .  .  and  ever  as  their  shrieks 


An  Age  of  Doubt  21 

Kan  highest  up  the  gamut,  that  great  wave 
Returning,  while  none  mark'd  it,  on  the  crowd 
Broke,  mixt  with  awful  light,  and  show'd  their  eyes 
Glaring,  and  passionate  looks,  and  swept  away 
The  men  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  men  of  stone, 
To  the  waste  deeps  together."  ^ 

It  was  but  a  dream,  dispelled  from  the  mind  The  pity  of 
of  lier  to  Avhom  it  came  iii  the  night-watches  ^^* 
by  the  crying  of  her  little  child,  and  soon  for- 
gotten in  the  sweet  reality  of  human  love. 
Only  a  dream,  but  hoAV  many  souls  have  felt 
the  vague  sadness,  the  haunting,  helpless  pity 
and  fear  of  a  like  vision,  looking  out  upon  the 
landscajDC  of  man's  inner  life,  and  seeing  the 
ancient  landmarks  slowly  melted  or  swiftly 
swept  away,  the  shrines  of  memory  shaken 
and  removed,  the  fair  images  of  immortal  de- 
sire and  aspiration  dissolving  and  disappearing 
in  the  onward  waves,  silently  creeping,  or  surg- 
ing with  mysterious  and  inarticulate  music  out 
of  the  waste  deep  of  doubt,  — 

"  The  unplumbed,  salt,  estranging  sea."  ^ 

Who  can  think  of  the  sharp  anguish  and  dull 
grief  that  have  fallen  upon  innumerable  hearts 
through  the  loss  of  their  most  precious  faiths  ; 

1  Tennyson's  Poetical  Works  (Macmillan,  1890),  p.  138. 

2  Matthew  Arnold,  "To  Marguerite."     Poems  (Macmil- 
lan, 1878),  p.  184. 


22  An  Age  of  Doubt 

who  can  think  of  the  gi'^j,  formless,  ever-mov- 
ing, yet  immovable  flood  of  mordant  gloom  that 
has  covered  so  many  once  bright  and  fertile 
fields  of  human  hope  and  endeavour,  so  many 
once  secure  and  peaceful  homes  of  human  trust 
and  confidence,  —  who  can  think  of  these  things, 
even  though  his  own  standpoint  be  still  un- 
touched, liis  own  faith-dwelling  founded  upon 
an  untrembling  rock  far  above  the  tide,  witli- 
out  a  sorrowful  perturbation  of  spirit  and  a 
deep,  inward  sense  of  compassionate  distress 
and  dread  ?  We  stand  upon  the  shore,  but  Ave 
stand  beside  the  sea.  And  we  look  out  upon 
it,  as  Emile  Littre  sadly  wrote,^  like  the  women 
of  Troy,  whom  the  Roman  poet  pictured  gaz- 
ing at  its  mighty  currents  and  engulfing  waves : 

"  Pontum  adspectabant  Jietites.^' 


IV 

Sympathy  It  is  with  no  careless  and  exaggerating  hand, 

lolth  doubt.      -J,  •     '  j_ix-  J  J  •  '    -4- 

it  IS  m  no  unsympatlietic  and  condemning  spirit, 
that  I  have  tried  to  draw  this  picture  of  the 
sceptical  age  in  which  we  live.  Its  faults,  its 
perils,  are  mine  and  yours.  The  preacher  who 
assumes  a  supercilious  and  damnatory  attitude 

1  Emile   Littr^,    Conservation^   Bevolution,    Positivisme, 
Memarques,  p.  430. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  23 

towards  the  doubts  of  the  present  time  can  do 
little  to  relieve,  and  may  do  much  to  increase 
them.  If  we  desire  to  be  true  ministers  to  a 
doubting  age,  we  must  put  ourselves  in  the  posi- 
tion of  Maurice,  who  said,  "  I  wish  to  confess 
the  sins  of  the  time  as  my  own."^  So  far  as 
current  scepticism  has  its  source  in  evil,  it  flows 
from  faults  of  which  we  all  partake,  —  the  pride 
of  intellect,  the  haste  of  judgment,  the  prefer- 
ence of  the  seen  to  the  unseen,  the  impatience 
of  ignorance,  the  vain  demand  of  perfection  in 
the  finite  comprehension  of  the  infinite,  and  the 
disloyalty  of  reason  to  conscience. 

But  indeed  this  is  not  the  point  of  view  from  Lessons  of 

which  Ave  speak.     This  lecture  is  not  an  indict-   ^^^^^J^^^^- 
^  ment. 

ment.  It  is  a  diagnosis.  Doubt,  as  we  arc 
thinking  of  it,  is  not  a  crime,  but  a  malady. 
And  if  we  are  to  have  any  hope  or  power  of 
staying  its  progress  and  healing  its  ravages,  we 
must  not  only  be  sympathetic  in  our  understand- 
ing of  it,  but  we  must  also  look  through  it, 
earnestly  and  patiently,  to  see  whether  there 
are  not  some  favourable  symptoms,  some  signs 
of  enduring  vitality,  some  promises  of  returning 
health  and  strength  in  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
Of  these  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are  three, 

1  The  Life  of  Frederick  Denison  Maurice  (New  York, 
Scribuers,  1884),  vol.  ii.,  p.  235. 


24 


An  Age  of  Doubt 


Pessimism. 


Cheerful 
scepticism 
almost  ex- 
tinct. 


SO  evident  and  so  important,  that  we  ought  not 
to  overlook  them.  First,  the  acknowledged 
discontent  and  pain  of  unbelief;  second,  the 
practical  recoil  of  some  of  the  finest  minds 
from  the  void  of  absolute  scepticism  ;  third, 
the  persistent  desire  of  many  doubting  spirits 
to  serve  mankind  by  love,  self-sacrifice,  and 
ethical  endeavour.  In  other  words,  I  Avould 
read  the  lesson  of  encouragement  in  the  suffer- 
ings of  doubt,  in  the  doubts  of  doubt,  and  in 
the  splendid  moral  inconsistencies  of  doubt. 

Begin,  then,  with  pain,  which  is  not  only  a 
warning  of  disease,  but  also  a  sign  of  life.  The 
pessimism  which  goes  hand  in  hand  with  scep- 
ticism in  this  nineteenth  century  is  a  cry  of 
suffering.  The  closely  reasoned  philosophies  of 
Schopenhauer  and  Hartmann,  with  their  prem- 
isses of  misery  and  conclusions  of  despair,  are 
only  the  scientific  statement  of  a  widely  diffused 
sentiment  of  dissatisfaction  and  despondency  in 
regard  to  life.^  Their  spread,  like  that  of  some 
apparently  new  disease,  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  give  a  name  to  something  from  Avhich  men 
have  long  suffered. 

It  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  the  course  of 
modern  scepticism  was  to  be  free  from  sadness, 
a  painless  malady.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
1  James  Sully,  Pessimism,  pp.  2,  3.     See  Appendix,  note  7. 


A71  Age  of  Doubt  25 

century  the  tone  of  infidelity  was  jubilant  and 
triumphant.  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  walked  into 
the  inn  at  Montanvert  and  wrote  his  name  in 
the  visitors'  book,  adding  "  democrat,  philan- 
thropist, atheist,"  —  as  if  it  Avere  a  record  of 
victory  and  a  title  of  glory.  This  cheerful 
type  of  scepticism  still  survives,  here  and  there, 
in  a  few  men  who  insist  that  the  process  of  dis- 
enchantment is  pleasant  and  joyous,  and  that 
the  optimism  which  belonged  to  faith  may  re- 
main while  the  faith  itself  disappears.  It  is 
like  the  smile  of  the  famous  cat,  in  the  child's 
story-book,  which  broadened  and  brightened 
while  the  cat  faded,  until  finally  the  animal  was 
gone  and  nothing  but  the  grin  was  left. 

But  for  the  most  part  modern  doubt  shows  a  The  sorrow 
sad  and  pain-drawn  face,  heavy  with  grief  and  ^i  .  . 
dark  with  apprehension.  There  is  an  illustra- 
tion of  this  change  in  the  life  of  George  Eliot. 
In  her  girlhood  she  passed  suddenly,  by  an  un- 
conditional surrender,  out  of  a  warm  faith  in 
Evangelical  Christianity  into  the  coldest  kind 
of  rational  scepticism.  She  writes  of  the  dull, 
and  now  forgotten,  book  which  wrought  this 
change,  Charles  Hennell's  Inquiry  concerning 
the  Origin  of  Ohristianitg^  with  strange  and  al- 
most fantastic  merriment:  "Mr.  Hennell  ought 
to  be  one  of  the  happiest  of  men  that  he  has 


of  losing 


26  A7i  Age  of  Doubt 

clone  such  a  life's  work.  I  am  sure  if  I  had 
written  such  a  book  1  should  be  invulnerable 
to  all  the  arrows  of  all  the  gods  and  goddesses. 
The  book  is  full  of  wit  to  me.  It  gives  me  that 
exquisite  kind  of  laughter  which  comes  from 
the  gratification  of  the  reasoning  faculties. "^ 
But  the  arrows  which  she  despised  struck 
home,  ere  life  was  ended,  to  her  own  heart. 

"  I  remember,"  writes  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers, 
"how  at  Cambridge  I  walked  with  her  once 
in  the  Fellows'  Garden  of  Trinity,  on  an  even- 
ing of  rainy  May,  and  she,  stirred  somewhat 
beyond  her  wont,  and  taking  as  her  text 
the  three  words  which  have  been  used  so 
often  as  tlie  inspiring  trumpet-calls  of  men, 
—  the  words  God,  Immortality,  Duty,  —  pro- 
nounced, with  terrible  earnestness,  how  in- 
conceivable Avas  the  first,  how  unbelievable 
was  the  second,  and  how  peremptory  and  abso- 
lute the  third.  Never,  perhaps,  had  sterner 
accents  affirmed  the  sovereignty  of  imper- 
sonal and  unrecompensing  law.  I  listened  and 
night  fell ;  her  grave,  majestic  countenance 
turned  towards  me  like  a  Sibyl's  in  the  gloom  ; 
it  was  as  though  she  withdrew  from  my  grasp, 
one   by  one,  the    two    scrolls  of   promise,  and 

1  George  Eliot's  Life,  as  related  in  her  Letters  (New  York, 
Harpers),  vol.  i.,  p.  119. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  27 

Left  me  the  third   scroll  only,  awful  with   in- 
evitable fate."  1 

An  inevitable  fate,  seen  through  the  gloom  The  sad  as- 
of  falling  night,  —  that  indeed  is  the  aspect  of  ^^^  ^^ 
life  which  the  literature  of  doubt  displays  to 
us.  A  gray  shadow  of  melancholy  spreads 
over  the  questioning,  uncertain,  disillusioned 
age  ;  languid  sighs  of  weariness  breathe  from 
its  salons  and  palaces.  Bitter  discontent  mut- 
ters in  its  workshops  and  tenements.  "Never, 
I  believe,"  says  Paul  Desjardins,  "have  men 
been  more  universally  sad  than  in  the  present 
time."  And  then  he  adds,  with  keen  insight, 
"  Our  misery  lies  in  feeling  that  we  are  less 
men  than  we  were  sixty  years  ago."^  Human 
life  has  been  unspeakably  impoverished  and 
narrowed  by  the  loss  of  faith.  Comedy  has 
become  tragic,  and  tragedy  has  grown  mean 
and  sordid.  3  Men  have  lost  the  sound  of  a 
Divine  voice  in  the  story  of  their  existence 
and  learned  to  listen  to  it  as 

"  a  tale 
Told  by  an  idiot,  full  of  sound  and  fury- 
Signifying  nothing." 

1  R.   H.    Hutton,    Modern   Guides   of  English    Thought 
(London,  Macmillan,  1887),  p.  262. 

2  Le  Devoir  Present^  pp.  17,  19. 

3  See  the  plays  of  Ibsen  :    Ghosts,  A  DolVs  House,  TJie 
Wild  Duck,  etc. 


The  mean- 
ness of  man. 


28  A71  Age  of  Doubt 

Love  itself,  the  great  purifier  and  ennobler,  has 
been  transformed  in  the  subtle  analysis  of  sex- 
ual passion,  from  the  sea-born  Venus,  pure  and 
radiant  with  immortal  youth,  to  a  dirt-engen- 
dered goddess,  concealing  her  secret  ugliness 
with  illusory  and  artificial  charms,  and  presid- 
ing with  malignant  power  over  the  lower  cur- 
rents of  man's  being,  —  a  veritable  Cloacina  of 
human  life.^ 

The  thought  of  "the  grandeur  and  misery 
of  man,"  as  Pascal  conceived  it,  was  painful 
but  elevating.  The  conception  of  the  insig- 
nificance and  misery  of  man  as  scepticism  pre- 
sents it,  is  painful  and  dispiriting.  Born  of 
blind  force  and  unconscious  matter,  quickened 
by  some  mysterious  cruelty  to  a  consciousness 
of  his  own  origin  and  a  foreboding  of  his  inex- 
plicable and  fruitless  destiny,  he  "  drees  his 
weird,"  between  two  fathomless  abysses  of 
gloom,  as  one  who  is  indeed  weary  and  heavy- 
laden.  The  music  with  which  he  accompanies 
his  march  towards  the  blank  and  dismal  bourn, 
rolls  and  clashes  through  the  literature  of  every 
land  with  deep  and  mournful  discords,  as  if 
man  had  at  last  invented  that  strange  organ  of 

1  Bourget,  Psychologie  Contemporaine,  pp,  5,  8.  See 
Appendix,  note  8. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  29 

expression  which  a  satirist  has  called  *'  the  Mis- 
er opJion.'^ '^ 

'^  This  philosophy,"  says  Stendhal,  comment-   The  nausea 

of  P0l*7  ^tP7)  OP 

ing  upon  the  last  reflections  of  his  hero  in  Rouge 
et  iVbiV,  "  was  perhaps  tru^but  it  was  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  make  one  long  for  death."  And 
then  the  critic  from  whom  I  have  quoted  these 
words,  adds  his  own  commentary.  "  Do  you 
perceive,  at  the  close  of  this  work,  the  most 
complete  which  the  author  has  left,  the  break- 
ing of  the  tragic  dawn  of  pessimism  ?  It  rises, 
this  dawn  of  blood  and  tears,  and,  like  the  clear- 
ness of  a  new-born  day,  it  overspreads  with 
crimson  hues  the  loftiest  spirits  of  our  age, 
those  whose  thoughts  are  at  the  summit,  those 
to  whom  the  eyes  of  the  men  of  to-morrow  lift 
themselves,  —  religiously.  I  am  come  in  this 
series  of  psychological  studies  to  the  fifth  and 
last  of  the  personages  whom  I  propose  to  ana- 
lyze. I  have  examined  a  poet,  Baudelaire  ;  a 
historian,  Renan ;  a  romancer,  Flaubert ;  a 
philosopher,  Taine  ;  I  have  just  examined  one 
of  these  composite  artists  in  whom  the  critic 
and  the  imaginative  writer  are  closely  united  ; 
and  I  have  found  in  these  five  Frenchmen  of 

1  Anton  Bettelheim,  article  in  Cosmopolis^  January,  1896. 
See  Appendix,  note  9. 


30  An  Age  of  Doubt 

such  importance,  the  same  philosophy  of  dis- 
gust with  the  universal  nothingness."^ 
Melancholia.  If  we  turn  to  Russia,  which  has  given  us 
some  of  the  most  brilliant  and  influential, 
though  undisciplinQ^,  writers  of  modern  fic- 
tion, do  we  not  hear,  in  an  accent  harsher 
and  more  formidable,  the  same  conclusions, 
the  same  cries  of  nausea  over  the  inextricable 
confusion  and  vain  efforts  of  human  life?  If 
we  turn  to  England,  do  Ave  not  see  the  same 
cloud  of  melancholy,  less  threatening,  less 
angry,  but  no  less  dark,  rising  from  the 
chasm  which  doubt  has  made  between  man's 
inner  life  and  the  world  as  scientific  posi- 
tivism pictures  it  ?  How  mournful  is  the 
voice  in  which  W.  K.  Clifford  proclaims, 
"  The  Great  Companion  is  dead  !  "  How  dark 
with  silent,  passionate  grief  is  that  lonely 
wood  in  which  "  Robert  Elsmere "  feels  him- 
self going  blind  to  the  dearest  visions  of  his 
former  faith. ^  Hoav  black  the  air  in  which 
"  Jude  the  Obscure "  breathes  out  the  last 
throbbings  of  his  insurgent  heart  in  curses 
upon  his  sordid  and   desperate   fate  !  ^     Let  a 

1  Paul  Bourget,  Psijchologie  Contemporaine^  p.  321. 

2  Mrs.    Humphry   Ward,    Bohert    Elsmere    (Macmillan, 
1888),  vol.  ii. ,  chap.  xxvi. 

^  Thomas  Hardy,  Jude  the  Obscure  (Harpers,  1896). 


An  Age  of  Doubt  31 

poet,  with  that  sublime  insight  of  genius 
which  endures  even  amid  the  ruins  created 
by  its  own  destructive  passion,  speak  the 
Last  word  of  doubt,  —  the  epitaph  of  The 
City  of  Dreadful  Night.  The  portentous  fig- 
ure of  "  Melancholia  "  sits  enthroned  above  her 
vast*  metropolis. 

"  The  moving  Moon  and  stars  from  east  to  west 
Circle  before  her  in  the  sea  of  air ; 
Shadows  and  gleams  glide  round  her  solemn  rest. 
Her  subjects  often  gaze  up  to  her  there : 
The  strong  to  drink  new  strength  of  iron  endurance, 
The  weak,  new  terrors;  all,  renewed  assurance 
And  confirmation  of  the  old  despair."  ^ 

But  why  despair,  unless  indeed  because  Pain  gives 
man,  in  his  very  nature  and  inmost  essence, 
is  framed  for  an  immortal  hope  ?  No  other  hope. 
creature  is  filled  with  disgust  and  anger  by 
the  mere  recognition  of  its  own  environment 
and  the  realization  of  its  own  destiny.  This 
strange  issue  of  a  purely  physical  evolution 
in  a  profound  revolt  against  itself  is  incred- 
ibly miraculous.  Can  a  vast  universe  of  atoms 
and  ether,  unfolding  out  of  darkness  into  dark- 
ness, produce  at  some  point  in  its  progress, 
and  that  point  apparently  the  highest,  a  feel- 
ing of  profound   disappointment  with  its  par- 

1  James  Thomson,  The  CWj  of  Dreadful  Night,  xxi.  12. 


an  argu- 
ment of 


32  An  Age  of  Doubt 

tially  discovered  processes  and  resentful  grief 
at  its  dimly  foreseen  end?  To  believe  this 
would  require  a  monstrous  credulity !  Athe- 
ism does  not  touch  this  difficulty.  Agnosti- 
cism evades  it.  There  are  but  two  solutions 
which  really  face  the  facts.  One  is  the  black, 
unspeakable  creed  that  the  source  of  all  things 
is  an  unknown,  mocking,  malignant  Power, 
whose  last  and  most  cruel  jest  is  the  misery 
of  disenchanted  man.^  The  other  is  the  hope- 
ful creed  that  the  very  pain  which  man  suffers 
when  his  spiritual  nature  is  denied,  is  proof 
that  it  exists,  and  part  of  the  discipline  by 
which  a  truthful,  loving  God  would  lead  man 
to  Himself.  Let  the  world  judge  which  is 
the  more  reasonable  faith.  But  for  our  part, 
while  we  cling  to  the  creed  of  hope,  let  us 
not  fail  to  ''  cleave  ever  to  the  sunnier  side 
of  doubt,"  and  see  in  the  very  shadow  that 
it  casts  the  evidence  of  a  light  behind  and 
above  it.  Let  us  learn  the  meaning  of  that 
noble  word  of  St.  Augustine  :  Tlioti  hast  made 
us  for  Thyself^  and  unquiet  is  our  heart  icntil  it 
j  rests  in  Thee. 

1  "  It  must  have  been  an  ill-advised  God,  who  could  fall 
upon  no  better  amusement  than  the  transforming  of  Himself 
into  such  a  hungry  world  as  this,  which  is  utterly  miserable  and 
worse  than  none  at  all."  —  David  Friedrich  Strauss,  quoted 
in  The  British  Quarterly  Bevieiv,  January,  1877,  p.  146. 


An  Age  of  Douht  33 

Yes,    the    inquietude    of    the    heart    which   Therena 
doubt   has  robbed   of   its   faith  in    God,  is  an  f!^,f  ^-^ 

'  faith. 

evidence   that   scepticism   is   a   mahT^dy,  not   a 

normal  state.  The  sadness  of  our  times  under 
the  pressure  of  positive  disbelief  and  negative 
uncertainty  has  in  it  the  promise  and  potency 
of  a  return  to  health  and  happiness.  Already 
we  can  see,  if  we  look  with  clear  eyes,  the 
signs  of  what  I  have  dared  to  call  ''the  re- 
action out  of  the  heart  of  a  doubting  age 
towards  the  Christianity  of  Christ  and  the 
faith  in  Immortal  Love."^ 

Pagan  poets,  full  of  melancholy  beauty  and 
vague  regret  for  lost  ideals,  poets  of  decadence 
and  despondence,  the  age  has  born,  to  sing  its 
grief  and  gloom.  But  its  two  great  singers, 
Tennyson  and  Browning,  strike  a  clearer  note 
of  returning  faith  and  hope.  "  They  resume 
the  quest,  and  do  not  pause  until  they  find 
Him  whom  they  seek."^  Pessimists  like  Hart- 
mann  work  back  unconsciously,  from  the  vague 
remoteness  of  pantheism,  far  in  the  direction, 
at  least,  of  a  theistic  view  of  the  universe. 
His    later    books  —  ReUgioitsijliilosophie    and 

1  The  Poetry  of  Tennyson  (New  York,  Scribners,  1889), 
p.  xiii. 

2  Vida  D.  Scudder,  The  Life  of  the  Spirit  in  the  Modern 
English  Poets  (Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co.,  1895),  p.  333. 


34  An  Age  of  Doubt 

Selbstej'setzung  des  ChristentJiums  —  breathe  a 
different  spirit  from  his  PhilosopJiie  des  Un- 
hewussten}  One  of  the  most  cautious  of  our 
younger  students  of  philosophy  has  noted  with 
care,  in  a  recent  article,  the  indications  that 
"the  era  of  doubt  is  drawing  to  a  close."  ^  A 
statesman,  like  Signor  Crispi,  does  not  hesitate 
to  cut  loose  from  his  former  atheistic  connec- 
tions and  declare  that  "the  belief  in  God  is 
the  fundamental  basis  of  the  healthy  life  of 
the  people,  while  atheism  puts  in  it  the  germ 
of  an  irreparable  decay."  The  French  critic, 
M.  Edouard  Rod,  declares  that  "  only  religion 
can  regulate  at  the  same  time  human  thought 
and  human  action."  ^  Mr.  Benjamin  Kidd, 
from  the  side  of  English  sociology,  assures 
us  that  "  since  man  became  a  social  creature, 
the  development  of  his  intellectual  character 
has  become  subordinate  to  the  development 
of  his  religious  character,"  and  concludes  that 
religion  affords  the  only  permanent  sanction 
for  progress.*     A  famous   biologist,  Romanes, 

1  James  Orr,  The  Christian  View  of  God  and  the  WorM 
(New  York,  Randolph,  1893),  pp.  456,  457.  See  Appendix, 
note  10. 

2  The  Methodist  Beview,  January,  1896.  "  The  Return 
to  Faith,"  by  Prof.  A.  C.  Armstrong,  Jr. 

3  Edouard  Rod,  Les  Idees  Morales  du  Temps  Present 
(Paris,  1894),  p.  304. 

*  Benjamin  Kidd,  Social  Evolution  (London,  1894),  p.  245. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  35 

who  once  professed  the  most  absolute  rejec- 
tion of  revealed,  and  the  most  unqualified 
scepticism  of  natural,  religion,  thinks  his  Avay 
soberly  back  from  the  painful  void  to  a  posi- 
tion where  he  confesses  that  "  it  is  reasonable 
to  be  a  Christian  believer,"  and  dies  in  the 
full  communion  of  the  church  of  Jesus. ^ 

All  along  the  line,  Ave  see  men  who  once 
thought  it  necessary  or  desirable  to  abandon 
forever  the  soul's  abode  of  faith  in  the  unseen, 
returning  by  many  and  devious  ways  from  the 
far  country  of  doubt,  driven  by  homesickness 
and  hunger  to  seek  some  path  which  shall  at 
least  bring  them  in  sight  of  a  Father's  house. 

And  meanwhile  Ave  hear  the  conscience,  the   The  indomi- 

ethical   instinct    of    mankind,    assertinsr    itself   ^^^^^  ^^'^■ 

°  science. 

with  splendid  courage  and  patience,  even  in 
those  Avho  haA^e  as  yet  found  no  sure  ground 
for  it  to  stand  upon.  There  is  a  sublime  con- 
tradiction betAA^een  the  positivist's  view  of  man 
as  "  the  hero  of  a  lamentable  drama  played  in 
an  obscure  corner  of  the  universe,  in  virtue  of 
blind  laws,  before  an  indifferent  nature,  and 
with  annihilation  for  its  denouement,"  ^  and  the 
doctrine  that  it  is  his  supreme  duty  to  sacrifice 
himself  for  the  good  of  humanity.     Yet  many 

1  Thoughts  on  BeUgion,  p.  196. 

2  Madame  L.  Ackermann,  3Ia  Vie  (Paris,  1885),  p.  xviii. 


crusade  in 
France. 


86  An  Age  of  Doubt 

of  the  sceptical  thinkers  of  the  age  do  not 
stumble  at  the  contradiction.  They  hold  fast 
to  love  and  justice  and  moral  enthusiasm  even 
though  they  suspect  that  they  themselves  are 
the  products  of  a  nature  which  is  blind  and 
dumb  and  heartless  and  stupid.  Never  have 
the  obligations  of  self-restraint,  and  helpful- 
ness, and  equity,  and  universal  brotherhood 
been  preached  more  fervently  than  by  some  of 
the  English  agnostics. 
The  new  In  France  a  new  crusade  has  risen ;    a  cru- 

sade which  seeks  to  gather  into  its  hosts  men 
of  all  creeds  and  men  of  none,  and  which  pro- 
claims as  its  object  the  recovery  of  the  sacred 
places  of  man's  spiritual  life,  the  holy  land  in 
which  virtue  shines  forever  by  its  own  light, 
and  the  higher  impulses  of  our  nature  are  in- 
spired, invincible,  and  immortal.  On  its  ban- 
ner M.  Paul  Desjardins  writes  the  word  of 
Tolstoi,  '-^Ilfaut  avoi7'  une  dme;  it  is  necessary 
to  haA^e  a  soul,"  and  declares  that  the  crusaders 
will  follow  it  wherever  it  leads  them.  "  For 
my  part,"  he  cries,  ''  I  shall  not  blush  certainly 
to  acknowledge  as  sole  master  the  Christ 
preached  by  the  doctors.  I  shall  not  recoil  if 
my  premisses  force  me  to  believe,  at  last,  as 
Pascal  believed."! 

1  Le  Devoir  Present,  45. 


An  Age  of  Doubt  37 

In  our  own  land  such  a  crusade  does  not  yet   The  new 

crusade  i 
America. 


appear  to  be  necessary.     The  disintegration  of  ^''"^"^  ^  ^^ 


faith  under  the  secret  processes  of  general 
scepticism  has  not  yet  gone  far  enough  to  make 
the  peril  of  religion  evident,  or  to  cause  a  new 
marshalling  of  hosts  to  recover  and  defend  the 
forsaken  shrines  of  man's  spiritual  life.  When 
the  process  which  is  now  subtly  working  in  so 
many  departments  of  our  literature  has  gone 
farther,  it  may  be  needful  to  call  for  such  a 
crusade.  If  so,  I  believe  it  will  come.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  leaders  of  thought,  the  artists, 
the  poets  of  the  future,  when  they  stand  face 
to  face  with  the  manifest  results  of  negation 
and  disillusion,  Avhich  really  destroy  the  very 
sphere  in  which  alone  art  and  poetry  can  live, 
will  rise  to  meet  the  peril,  and  proclaim  anew 
with  one  voice  the  watchword,  "It  is  necessary 
to  have  a  soul!  And  though  a  man  gain  the 
whole  world,  if  his  soul  is  lost,  it  shall  profit 
him  nothing."  But  meanwhile,  before  the  fol- 
lowing of  the  errors  of  France  in  literature  and 
art  has  led  us  to  that  point  of  S]3iritual  impov- 
erishment Avhere  Ave  must  imitate  the  organized 
and  avowed  effort  to  recover  that  which  has 
been  lost,  we  see  a  new  crusade  of  another 
kind:  a  powerful  movement  of  moral  enthu- 
siasm, of  self-sacrifice,  of  altruism,  even  among 


a  gospel  of 
leadership. 


38  An  Age  of  Doxiht 

those  who  profess  to  be  out  of  sympathy  with 
Christianity,  which  is  a  sign  of  promise,  be- 
cause it  reveals  a  force  that  cries  out  for  faith, 
and  for  Christian  faith,  to  guide  and  direct  it. 
The  cry  for  Never  was  there  a  time  when  the  fine  aspira- 
tions of  the  young  manhood  and  young  woman- 
hood of  our  country  needed  a  more  inspiring 
and  direct  Christian  leadership.  The  indica- 
tions of  this  need  lie  open  to  our  sight  on  every 
side.  Here  is  a  company  of  refined  and  edu- 
cated people  going  down  to  make  a  college  set- 
tlement among  the  poor  and  ignorant,  to  help 
them  and  lift  them  up.  They  declare  that  it  is 
not  a  religious  movement,  that  there  is  to  be 
no  preaching  connected  with  it,  that  the  only 
faith  which  it  is  to  embody  is  faith  in  human- 
ity. They  choose  a  leader  who  has  only  that 
faith.  But  they  find,  under  his  guidance,  that 
the  movement  Avill  not  move,  that  the  work 
cannot  be  done,  that  it  faints  and  fails  because 
it  lacks  the  spring  of  moral  inspiration  which 
can  come  only  from  a  divine  and  spiritual 
faith.  And  they  are  forced  to  seek  a  new 
leader  who,  although  he  is  not  a  preacher,  yet 
carries  within  his  heart  that  power  of  religious 
conviction,  that  force  of  devotion  to  the  will  of 
God,  that  faith  in  the  living  and  supreme 
Christ,  which  is  in  fact  the  centre  of  Christian- 


An  Age  of  Doubt  39 

ity.  All  around  the  circle  of  human  doubt 
and  despair,  where  men  and  women  are  going 
out  to  enlighten  and  uplift  and  comfort  and 
strengthen  their  fellow-men  under  the  perplex- 
ities and  burdens  of  life,  we  hear  the  cry  for  a 
gospel  which  shall  be  divine,  and  therefore 
sovereign  and  unquestionable  and  sure  and  vic- 
torious. All  through  the  noblest  aspirations 
and  efforts  and  hopes  of  our  age  of  doubt,  we 
feel  the  longing,  and  we  hear  the  demand,  for 
a  new  inspiration  of  Christian  faith. 

These  are  the  signs  of  the  times.  Surely  we  The  signs  of 
must  take  note  of  them,  surely  we  must  labour 
and  pray  to  understand  their  true  significance, 
if  we  are  to  say  anything  to  our  fellow-men 
which  shall  be  worth  our  saying  and  their 
hearing. 

Renan  made  a  strange  remark  not  long  be- 
fore his  death :  "  I  fear  that  the  work  of  the 
Twentieth  Century  will  consist  in  taking  out 
of  the  waste-basket  a  multitude  of  excellent 
ideas  which  the  Nineteenth  Century  has  heed- 
lessly thrown  into  it."  The  sceptic's  fear  is 
the  believer's  hope.  Once  more  the  fields  are 
white  unto  the  harvest.  The  time  is  ripe ; 
ripe  in  the  sorrow  of  scepticism,  ripe  in  the 
return  of  aspiration,  ripe  in  the  enthusiasm  of 


the  times. 


40  A7i  Age  of  Doubt 

humanity,  for  a  renaissance  of  the  spiritual  life. 
Blessed  are  they  who  are  come  to  the  kingdom 
for  such  a  time  as  this,  if  indeed  they  believe 
and  preach  a  living,  saving  Gospel  for  this  Age 
of  Doubt. 


II 

THE   GOSPEL   OF  A  PERSON 


Subtlest  thought  shall  fail  and  learning  falter, 
Churches  change,  forms  perish,  systems  go, 

But  our  human  needs,  they  will  not  alter, 
Christ  no  after  age  shall  e'er  outgrow. 

Yea,  Amen !     O  changeless  One,  Thou  only, 

Art  life's  guide  and  spiritual  goal, 
Thou  the  Light  across  the  dark  vale  lonely,  — 

Thou  the  eternal  haven  of  the  soul. 

—  John  Campbell  Shairp. 


II 

THE   GOSPEL    OF   A   PERSON 

The  prevalence  and  the  quality  of  modern  How  shall 
doubt,  with  its  discontent  and  sadness,  its  l^,!ese?iifV  S* 
self-misgivings  and  reactions,  its  moral  incon- 
sistencies and  fine  enthusiasms,  bring  the 
preacher  who  is  alive  and  in  earnest,  face  to 
face  with  the  most  important  question  of  his 
life.  What  can  I  do,  what  ought  I  to  do,  as 
a  preacher,  to  meet  the  strange,  urgent,  com- 
plicated needs  of  such  a  time  as  this  ? 

First  of  all,  as  a  man,  —  and  every  preacher 
ought  to  be  a  man,  though  not  every  man  is 
bound  to  be  a  preacher  —  as  a  man,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  lead  a  clean,  upright,  steadfast,  use- 
ful life,  purged  from  all  insincerity,  and  lifted 
above  all  selfishness,  and  especially  above  that 
form  of  religious  selfishness  which  is  the  beset- 
ting peril  of  those  who  feel  themselves  rich  in 
faith  in  the  midst  of  a  generation  that  has  been 
made  poor  by  unbelief.  Never  has  there  been  a 
time  when  character  and  conduct  counted  for 
43 


44 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person 


Proposed 

remedies 
insufficient. 


more  than  they  do  to-day.  A  life  on  a  liigh 
level,  yet  full  of  helpful,  healing  sympathy 
for  all  life  on  its  lowest  levels,  is  the  first  debt 
which  we  owe  to  our  fellow-men  in  this  age. 

But  beyond  this,  is  there  not  something  per- 
sonal and  specific  Avhich  the  conditions  of  the 
23resent  demand  from  us,  as  men  who  have  not 
only  the  common  duty  of  living,  but  also  the 
peculiar  vocation  of  speaking  directly  and  con- 
stantly to  the  inner  life  of  our  brothers  ?  We 
want  some  distinct  and  definite  message,  which 
is  to  be  clearly  formed  in  our  thought  and  feel- 
ing and  utterance,  as  the  central,  guiding,  domi- 
nating force  in  all  our  efforts  to  realize  the  fine 
aspiration  of  the  old  hymn : 

"  To  serve  the  present  age, 
My  calling  to  fulfil,  — 
Oh,  may  it  all  my  powers  engage 
To  do  my  Master's  will !  " 

Now  the  moment  we  look  at  the  problem  in 
this  light,  we  see  that  there  are  various  lines 
of  activity  open  to  us,  and  along  all  of  these 
lines  men  are  making  promises  and  prophecies 
of  usefulness  and  success.  The  cures  which 
are  suggested  for  the  malady  of  the  age  are 
many  and  diverse.  Of  some  of  them  we  need 
speak  only  in  passing,  to  recognize  that  for 
us,  at  least,  they  are  unsuitable. 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person  45 

Herr  Max  Nordau,  for  example,  in  his  Reaction  to 
curious  and  chaotic  book,  Degeneration^  diag- 
noses the  sickness  of  modern  times  as  the 
result,  not  of  a  loss  of  faith,  but  of  a  fatal 
increase  of  nervous  irritability  produced  by 
the  strain  of  an  intricate  civilization.  He 
declares  that  the  malady  must  run  its  course, 
but  that  in  time  it  will  be  healed  by  the  re- 
storative force  of  ^^  771180 neism,  that  instinctive, 
invincible  aversion  to  progress  and  its  difficul- 
ties that  Lombroso  has  studied  so  much  and  to 
which  he  has  given  this  name."  ^ 

The  name  is  certainly  not  a  pretty  one,  nor 
do  I  think  that,  after  the  first  feeling  of  pleas- 
ure in  learning  to  pronounce  a  newly  imported 
word  has  passed,  the  contemplation  of  its 
meaning  w^ill  afford  us  any  profound  sense  of 
satisfaction  or  hope.  The  picture  of  mankind 
as  a  magnified  Jemmy  Button,  returning  from 
his  temporary  residence  in  England  to  his  na- 
tive Terra  del  Fuego,  and  flinging  away  his 
gloves  and  patent-leather  shoes,  to  relapse  into 
a  peaceful  and  contented  barbarism,  is  not  in- 
spiring. Who  is  there  that  would  care  to  de- 
vote his  life  to  the  hastening  of  such  a  result  ? 
Who  but  the  veriest  quack,  himself  affected  by 
the  hysteria  of  the  age,  would  think  of  curing 

1  Max  Nordau,  Degeneration  (New  York,  1895),  p.  542. 


46  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

the  convulsions  of  St.  Vitus'  dance  in  an  over- 
strained humanity  by  throwing  the  patient  into 
the  stupor  of  typhoid  fever  ? 
Psychical  Another  and  very  different  method  of  deal- 

ing with  the  malady  of  the  times  is  suggested 
by  those  who  believe  that  Science  itself,  in  the 
immense  future  advance  which  is  predicted  for 
it,  will  supply  the  antidote  for  the  scepticism 
which  has  accompanied  its  previous  course. 
New  discoveries  will  be  made  which  will  sup- 
port the  proposition  :  //  faut  avoir  U7ie  dme. 
New  arg-uments  will  be  constructed  which  will 
give  us  a  scientific  demonstration  of  the  un- 
seen universe  and  the  future  life.  It  is  in 
this  spirit  that  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers  calls  at- 
tention to  the  phenomena  of  mesmerism  and 
hypnotism  and  telepathy,  and  suggests  that 
the  need  of  the  age  is  a  more  cordial  and 
general  interest  in  the  investigations  of  the 
Society  of  Psychical  Research. i  I  do  not 
think,  for  one,  that  these  investigations  are 
to  be  slighted  or  despised.  They  may  be  of 
great  value.  But  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
this  is  the  source  to  which  the  preacher  is  to 
look  either  for  his  inspiration  or  his  message. 
For,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  highly  improbable 
that  science  is  about  to  make  any  such  aston- 
1  See  Appendix,  note  11. 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person  47 

ishing  advance,  either  in  methods  or  results, 
as  some  men  anticipate.  The  best  authorities 
admit  this,  and  warn  us  tliat  there  are  "limi- 
tations in  the  nature  of  the  universe  which 
must  circumscribe  the  achievements  of  sjDecu- 
lative  research."  1  Mr.  Myers  himself  makes 
the  same  admission,  and  says  that  so  far  as 
our  discoveries  are  confined  to  the  physical 
side  of  things,  there  is  no  ground  whatever 
for  sanguine  hope.  Moreover,  in  the  second 
place,  whatever  work  may  be  done  in  this  di- 
rection must  be  accomplished,  not  by  preachers, 
but  by  scientists.  The  average  preacher  has 
no  particular  vocation,  and  no  adequate  qual- 
ification, for  the  task.  Neither  by  tempera- 
ment nor  by  training  is  he  fitted  to  judge 
of  these  matters.  Now  and  then  you  will  find 
a  rare  exception  ;  but  as  a  rule  nothing  could 
be  of  less  value  than  the  scientific  sermons  of 
preachers  who  have  only  a  bowing  acquaint- 
ance with  science.  If  the  cure  of  modern 
scepticism  is  to  be  accomplished  by  the  further 
progress  of  physical  investigation,  at  least  we 
must  confess  that  this  enterprise  is  not  for  us. 

But   there    are    two    other    ways    of    deal- 
ing Avith  current    doubt  which    demand  closer 
attention.     One    of    them    is   the    philosophic 
1  See  Appendix,  note  12. 


48  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

Thorough-  method  of  a  reductio  ad  ahsurdum.  The  logic 
rationalism,  ^f  rationalism  is  applied  to  its  own  premisses 
in  order  to  show  that  they  are  unfounded  and 
unverifiable.  The  result  of  this  attack,  as  it 
has  been  made  with  a  relentless  and  masterly 
hand  by  the  Hon.  Arthur  James  Balfour  in 
his  Defence  of  PhilosopJde  Doubt.,  is  to  exhibit 
the  startling  fact  that  ''  the  universe  as  repre- 
sented to  us  by  science  is  wholly  unimaginable, 
and  that  our  conception  of  it  is  what  in  The- 
ology would  be  termed  purely  anthropomor- 
phic."^ The  evidence  for  the  existence  of  a 
world  composed  of  atoms  and  ether  is  no 
more  conclusive,  the  account  which  science 
gives  of  their  nature  and  qualities  is  no  more 
coherent,  than  the  evidence  and  account  which 
faith  gives  of  a  world  created  by  a  personal 
God  and  inhabited  by  immortal  souls.  Pure 
agnosticism  is  thus  forced  into  the  service  of 
Christianity  and  used  to  destroy  all  a  priori 
objections  to  it.  Giant  Doubt  is  brought  low 
by  turning  his  own  Aveapons  against  himself, 
even  as  Benaiah,  the  son  of  Jehoiada,  slew  the 
Egyptian  "with  his  own  spear." ^ 

The  value  of  this   service    of   philosophy   is 

1  A  Defence   of  Philosophic  Doubt  (Macmillan,  1879), 
pp.  284,  285,  287-289.     See  Appendix,  note  13. 

2  1  Chron.  xi.  23. 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person  49 

considerable.  The  Christian  preacher  onght 
not  to  be  ignorant  of  its  actual  results,  for 
they  are  such  as  to  encourage  him  in  preserv- 
ing his  independence  against  the  tyrannous 
claims  of  positivism  ;  nor  unfamiliar  with  its 
methods,  for  they  are  fitted  to  train  and  disci- 
pline his  mind  by  hard  exercise  and  exact  work. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  only  a  mighty 
man  of  valour,  one  who,  like  Benaiali,  ranks 
above  the  host,  and  above  the  thirty  captains  of 
the  host,  can  hope  to  play  a  leading  part  in  this 
enterprise  of  ''carrying  the  war  into  Africa." 
It  must  be  remembered  also  that  the  reduction 
of  scientific  naturalism  to  an  absurdity  falls  far 
short  of  the  establishment  of  religious  faith  as 
a  verity.  Grateful  for  all  that  jjhilosophy  can 
do,  and  is  doing,  to  clear  the  way,  the  preacher 
must  have  a  principle,  an  impulse,  a  line  of 
action  which  will  carry  him  beyond  the  nega- 
tive result  of  making  unbelief  doubtful,  to  the 
positive  result  of  making  belief  credible. 

At  this  point  our  attention  is  called  to  an-  Theological 
other  Avay  of  dealing  with  current  scepticism, 
—  the  dogmatic  method,  Avhicli  relies  for  the 
defence  of  faith  upon  the  construction  of  a 
complete  and  consistent  system  of  doctrine  in 
regard  tn  (rod  and  man,  the  present  world  and 
the  future   life.     Faith,  in  other  Avords,  is   to 


f or  titi  cation. 


50  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

be  established  by  fortification,  surrounded  and 
entrenched  with  banquette  and  parapet,  scarp 
and  ditch  and  counterscarp  of  iron-worded 
proof,  defended  on  every  side  by  solid  syllo- 
gisms, and  impregnable  against  all  assaults  of 
unbelief.  It  is  foolish  not  to  recognize  the 
great  work  which  has  been  done  along  this  line 
by  wise  and  strong  men  in  the  past.  Those 
who  affect  to  despise  it  and  make  light  of  it, 
are  simply  ignorant  of  some  of  the  loftiest 
achievements  of  the  human  intellect.  The 
works  of  Augustine  and  Anselm  and  Thomas 
Aquinas,  of  John  Calvin  and  Richard  Hooker 
and  John  Owen,  of  Ralph  Cud  worth  and 
William  Chillingworth,  of  Richard  Baxter  and 
Samuel  Clarke  and  Joseph  Butler,  of  Jonathan 
Edwards  and  Charles  Hodge  and  W.  G.  T. 
Shedd,  are  massive  works.  They  impose  a 
sense  of  wonder  upon  every  thoughtful  ob- 
server. 
Chancjed  But  concerning  the  attempt  to  conquer  mod- 

ern doubt  l)y  a  system  of  dogmatic  theology, 
certain  things  must  be  remembered.  The  con- 
ditions of  Avarfare  change  from  age  to  age. 
The  vast  fortresses  of  solid  stone  whose  posses- 
sion Avas  once  regarded  as  the  security  of 
nations,  are  not  ranked  so  high  as  tliey  Avere 
a   hundred    years   ago.      The    eartliAvork,    the 


The  G-ospel  of  a  Person  51 

rifled  cannon,  the  iron-clad  ship,  the  torpedo, 
have  wrought  great  changes.  Deductive  logic 
is  just  as  strong  as  it  ever  was,  but  somehow  or 
other  men  are  not  as  much  impressed  by  it. 
Induction  is  the  method  of  to-day:  and  that  is 
a  subtle,  evasive,  mobile  method.  It  cannot 
be  shut  in  by  a  ring  of  fortresses.  Already 
the  dogmatic  systems  in  which  the  inductive 
method  is  ignored  or  subordinated  (whether 
made  long  ago,  or  constructed  yesterday  as 
modern  antiques)  are  out  of  date.  They  are 
good  for  the  men  who  are  within  them,  but 
on  the  outside  world  they  have  no  more  effect 
than  Windsor  Castle  would  have  in  protecting 
England  from  a  foreign  invasion. 

We  feel  sure  that  theology,  in  time,  must   The/uture 
and  will  vindicate  its  claim  to  be  considered  as  ^^  ^^^" 

an  essential  factor  in  the  intellectual  life  of 
man,  by  adapting  itself  to  the  changed  condi- 
tions, and  producing  even  mightier  works  by 
the.  new  methods  than  those  which  it  produced 
l)y  the  old.  Already  we  see  the  promise  of  a 
renaissance  of  dogmatics  in  such  books  as  Mul- 
ford'sZ'Ae  Republic  of  Grod,  Harris'  The  jSelf- 
.Revdatioii  of  G-od^Oi'v'a  The  Christian  View  of 
God  and  the  Worlds  and  Fairbairn's  The  Place 
of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology.  But  we  must 
remember  that  even  tliose  who  anticipate  and 


52  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

Great  things  predict  this  reconstruction  of  the  old  truth  on 

demanded  of  ^  -i        •      i-      n 

the  new  the-  ^^^®  ^^^^'^  Imes  most  enthusiastically,  recognize 
oiogian.  that  it  must  be  a  long  and  difficult  task,  and 
that  the  man  who  is  to  be  a  master-builder 
must  have  a  magnificent  equipment.  How  ex- 
hilarating at  the  first  sight,  but  at  the  second 
sight  how  overwhelming  and  discouraging,  are 
the  demands  of  the  age  upon  him  who  would 
fain  be  an  epoch-making  theologian,  as  they  are 
stated,  for  example,  in  Mr.  Balfour's  Founda- 
tions of  Beliefs  or  in  Dr.  George  A.  Gordon's 
inspiring  Ijook  The  Christ  of  To-day.^  Truly  it 
appears  that  such  a  man  must  realize  the  sup- 
position of  St.  Paul :  he  must  speak  with  the 
tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  the 
gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries 
and  all  knowledge.  Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things  ?  It  will  take  a  long  time  for  the  best 
of  us  to  learn  all  this.  Perhaps  the  most  of  us 
may  never  go  so  far.  Meantime,  whether  we 
are  labouring  toAvards  that  goal,  or  despairing 
of  it,  we  need  something  divinely  simple  and 
divinely  true  that  we  can  preach  at  once,  di- 
rectly, joyfully,  fervently  to  the  heart  of  the  age. 
A  view  of  the  world,  a  Welt-anschcmung^  is  de- 
sirable, perhaps  in  the  long  run  necessary,  for 
the  mind  of  man ;  but  there  is  another  thing 
1  See  Appendix,  note  14. 


Tlte  Gospel  of  a  Person  53 

which  is  more  desirable  and  of  prior  necessity,   ^  starting- 
and  that  is  a  standpoint  of  practical  conviction  jJ^-";^  J^/^g 
from  which  to  obtain  such  a  view.     It  may  be  fi^''^^  neces- 
but  a  foothold,  only  a  single  point  of  contact,    *  ^* 
but  we  must  have  it,  and  it  must  be  solid  as  a 
fact.     A  complete  and  consistent  theology  is  a 
consummation  most  devoutly  to  be  wished  for ; 
but  before  it  can  come  there  must  be  some- 
thing else,  —  a  living,  active  power  of  faith  in 
the  soul.     This  power,  as  we  believe,  already 
exists  in  every  human   being.      But   there  is 
only  one  thing  tliat  can  awaken  it  and  call  it 
into  action,   and   that   is  a  gospel^   a   message 
clear  as  light,  which  in  its  very  essence  is  a 
force  to  quicken  and  stir  the  soul. 

We  look  out  upon  the  world  and  we  see  that  Preaching 
some  men  have  had  such  a  gospel  without  be-  ^^  pow;er. 
ing  in  any  sense  finished  and  systematic  theo- 
logians. St.  Paul  and  St.  Peter  and  St.  John 
had  it.  St.  Chrysostom  and  St.  Francis  of 
Assisi  and  Savonarola  had  it.  John  Wesley 
and  George  Whitfield  had  it.  In  different  ages 
and  under  different  conditions  these  preachers 
had  the  primal  message  which  moves  men  to 
believe.  And  in  our  own  age,  under  our  own 
Qoi:Miitions,  a  like  message  has  been  proclaimed 
with  power.  Pere  Lacordaire  preached  such  a 
mesfsage  in  Notre  Dame,  and  Canon  Liddon  in 


54  The  Crospel  of  a  Person 

St.  Paul's,  to  listening  thousands.  Bisliop 
Brooks  made  it  thrill  like  a  celestial  music 
through  the  young  manhood  of  America;  and 
Dwight  L.  Moody  has  spoken  it  with  vigorous 
directness  in  every  great  city  that  knows  the 
English  tongue.  In  many  things,  in  ecclesias- 
tical relation,  in  theological  statement,  in  dress, 
in  manner,  in  language,  these  preachers  are 
unlike.  One  thing  only  is  the  same  in  all  of 
them,  and  that  is  the  source  of  their  power. 
Their  central  message,  the  core  of  their  preach- 
ing, is  the  piercing,  moving,  personal  gospel 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  Son  of  God  and  Sav- 
iour of  mankind.  This,  in  its  simplest  form  ; 
this,  in  its  clearest  expression ;  this  presenta- 
tion of  a  person  to  persons  in  order  that  they 
may  first  know,  and  then  love  and  trust  and 
follow  Him — this  is  pre-eminently  the  gospel 
for  an  age  of  doubt. 


The  Gospel  The  adaptation  of  our  central  message,  thus 
conceived  and  thus  expressed,  to  meet  the 
peculiar  needs  of  a  time  of  general  scepticism, 
is  the  theme  of  this  lecture.  1  do  not  say  that 
this  is  the  whole  of  Christianity.  I  do  not  say 
that  when  the  preacher  has  delivered  this  mes- 
saofe    in   this  form   he   has   fulfilled  all  of   his 


The   Gospel  of  a  Person  55 

duties.  He  may  have  to  bear  testimony  against 
errors  of  thought  and  vices  of  conduct ;  he  is 
certainly  bound  to  give  encouragement  and 
guidance  to  new  efforts  of  virtue  and  new  en- 
terprises of  benevolence  in  every  field.  But 
his  first  and  greatest  duty,  the  discharge  of 
which  is  to  give  him  influence  over  doubting 
hearts  and  strength  for  all  his  other  work,  is 
simply  to  preach  Christ. 

This  gospel  meets  the  needs  of  the  present   The  gospel 
time  because  it  is  the  gospel  of  a  fact.  "       ' 

Personality  is  a  fact.  Indeed  we  may  say 
that  it  is  the  aboriginal  fact ;  the  source  of  all 
perception  ;  the  starting-point  of  all  thought ; 
the  informing  and  moulding  principle  of  all 
language.  "  All  human  observation  implies 
that  the  mind,  the  'I,'  is  a  thing  in  itself,  a 
fixed  point  in  a  world  of  change,  of  which  world 
of  change  its  own  organs  form  a  part.  It  is  the 
same,  yesterday,  to-day,  and  to-morrow.  It 
Avas  what  it  is,  when  its  organs  were  of  a  dif- 
ferent shape  and  consisted  of  different  matter 
from  their  present  shape  and  matter.  It  will 
be  what  it  is,  when  they  have  gone  through 
other  changes."  1 

1  Sir  James  Fitzjames  Stephen,  Liberty,  Equality,  Frater- 
nity. Quoted  by  Hutton,  Contemporary  Thought,  I.,  p.  114. 
See  Appendix,  note  15. 


56  The   Gospel  of  a  Person 

Personality        This  fact  of  a  rational,  free,  conscious,  persist- 
dation.  ®^^^  ^^^^  i^  ^^^^  foundation  of  all  sensation  and 

of  all  reflection;  it  is  the  basis  of  physics  as  well 
as  of  metaphysics.  By  contrast  it  gives  us  our 
first  notion  of  matter  ;  by  resistance,  our  first 
notion  of  force  ;  by  operation,  our  first  notion 
of  causality.  It  is  a  necessary  assumption  even 
in  the  philosophies  of  agnosticism,  positivism, 
and  materialism.  They  cannot  move  a  step 
without  it. 

"  They  reckon  ill  who  leave  me  out." 

To  deny  personality  is  to  deny  the  possibility 
of  any  kind  of  knowledge  and  reduce  the  uni- 
verse to  a  blank. ^ 

Moreover,  it  is  not  only  true  that  the  recogni- 
tion of  our  own  personality  lies  at  the  root  of 
perception  and  reasoning.  It  is  also  true  that 
contact  with  other  personalities,  conscious,  in- 
telligent, free,  and  persistent  like  ourselves,  is 
the  gateway  through  wliich  we  reach  the  reality 
of  all  external  things.  To  a  solitary  mind  the 
outward  world  may  be  only  a  dream.  But  the 
moment  two  minds  come  into  contact  and  com- 
munication, it  becomes  at  least  a  permanent 
possibility  of  sensation.  By  comparison  and 
contrast  Avitli  the  sensations  and  experiences  of 
1  See  Appendix,  note  16. 


TJte   Gospel  of  a  Person  57 

others,  we  verify  our  own.  If  it  were  not  for 
this  the  whole  universe  would  dissolve  around 
us  like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision.  The 
subtle  analysis  of  modern  science,  transforming 
the  apparently  solid  elements  into  invisible 
atoms,  and  these  atoms  into  vortex  rings  in 
the  impal^^able  and  immeasurable  ether,  throws 
us  back,  more  and  more,  upon  personality,  sub- 
jective and  objective,  as  the  only  thing  that 
remains  sure  and  immutable. 

Persons,  then,  are  the  most  real  and  substan-   Persons  are 
tial  objects  of  our  knowledge.     They  touch  us 
at  more  points,  they  affect  us  in  more  ways  and 
with  greater  intensity,  they  fit  more  closely  into 
the  faculties  and  powers  of  our  own  being,  than 
anything  else  in  the  universe.     A  person  who  . 
has  influenced   us    or   our  fellow-men  leaves  a 
more   profound,  positive,   permanent,  and  real 
impression   than    any    other    fact   whatsoever. 
AVe  live  as  persons  in  a  world  of  persons,  far  > 
more  truly  than  we  live  in  a  world  of  phenomena 
or  laws  or  ideas. 

Now,  in  an  age  that  is  characterized,  as  some 
German  writer  has  said,  by  ''  a  hunger  for  facts," 
the  gospel  of  a  person,  if  it  is  rightly  appre- 
hended and  preached,  ought  to  have  peculiar 
power  because  it  is  a  factual  gospel.  We  can 
come  to  those  who   are  under  the  benumbing 


58  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

spell  of  universal  doubt  and  say  :  Here  is  a 
fact,  a  personality,  real  and  imperishable.  It  is 
not  merely  a  doctrine  that  was  believed  in  Pales- 
tine eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  It  is  some 
one  who  was  born  and  lived  among  men.  It  is 
not  merely  a  theory  of  God  and  the  soul  and 
the  future  life  that  sprang  up  in  the  East  in  the 
first  century  and  has  strangely  spread  itself 
over  the  world.  This  religion  is  historical  in 
every  sense  of  the  word,  as  the  actual  fulfilment 
of  an  ancient  hope,  and  the  starting-point  of  a 
new  life.^ 
The  reality         xhe  person  of  Jesus  Christ  stands  solid  in  the 

of  Christ. 

history  oi  man.  He  is  indeed  more  substantial, 
more  abiding,  in  human  apprehension,  than  any 
form  of  matter,  or  any  mode  of  force.  The 
conceptions  of  earth  and  air  and  fire  and  water 
change  and  melt  around  Him,  as  the  clouds 
melt  and  change  around  an  everlasting  moan- 
tain  peak.  All  attempts  to  resolve  Him  into 
a  myth,  a  legend,  an  idea,  —  and  hundreds  of 
such  attempts  have  been  made,  —  have  drifted 
over  the  enduring  reality  of  His  character  and 
left  not  a  rack  behind.  The  result  of  all  criti- 
cism, the  final  verdict  of  enlightened  common- 
sense,  is  that  Christ  is  historical.  He  is  such  a 
person  as  men  could  not  have  imagined  if  they 
1  See  Appendix,  note  17. 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person  59 

would,  and  would  not  have  imagined  if  they 
could.  He  is  neither  Greek  myth,  nor  Hebrew 
legend.^  The  artist  capable  of  fashioning  Him 
did  not  exist,  nor  could  he  have  found  the 
materials.  A  non-existent  Christianity  did  not 
spring  out  of  the  air  and  create  a  Christ.  A 
real  Christ  appeared  in  the  world  and  created 
Christianity.  This  is  what  we  mean  by  the 
gospel  of  a  fact. 

II 

And  here  we  come  at  once  into  sight  of  the   The  gospel 

.  of  a  force. 

second  quality  oi  this  gospel  which  is  pecul- 
iarly fitted  to  meet  the  needs  of  a  doubting  age. 
If  it  be  true  that  a  person  is  a  fact,  it  is  no 
less  true  that  a  person  is  a  force.  The  world 
moves  by  personality.  All  the  great  currents 
of  history  have  flowed  from  persons.  Organi- 
zation is  powerful ;  but  no  organization  has 
ever  accomplished  anything  until  a  person  has 
stood  at  the  centre  of  it  and  filled  it  with  his 
thought,  with  his  life.  Truth  is  mighty  and 
must  prevail.  But  it  never  does  prevail  actu- 
ally until  it  gets  itself  embodied,  incarnated,  in 
a  personality.  Christianity  has  an  organiza- 
tion. Christianity  has  a  doctrine.  But  the 
force  of  Christianity,  that  which  made  it  move 
1  See  Appendix,  note  18. 


i''irlst  ivas 
Ills  own 
gospel. 


60  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

and  lent  it  power  to  move  the  world,  is  the  Per- 
son at  the  heart  of  it,  who  gives  vitality  to  the 
organization  and  reality  to  the  doctrine.  All 
the  abstract  truths  of  Christianity  might  have 
come  into  the  world  in  another  form,  —  nay, 
the  substance  of  these  truths  did  actually  come 
into  the  world,  dimly  and  partially  through  the 
fragmentary  religions  of  the  nations,  more 
clearly  and  with  increasing,  prophetic  light 
through  the  inspired  Scriptures  of  the  He- 
brews ;  but  still  the  world  would  not  stir,  still 
the  truth  could  not  make  itself  felt  as  a  univer- 
sal force  in  the  life  of  humanity  until 

"  The  Word  had  breath,  and  wrought 

With  human  hands  the  creed  of  creeds, 
hi  loveliness  of  perfect  deeds, 
More  strong  than  all  poetic  thought."  ^ 

I  think  we  must  get  back,  in  our  conception  of 
Christianity  and  in  our  preaching  of  it,  to  this 
primary  position.  The  fount  and  origin  of  its 
power  was,  and  continued  to  be,  and  still  is,  the 
Person  Christ. 

This  Avas   the   secret   of   His  ministry.     He 

Himself   was    the    central   word    of    His   own 

preaching.     He  offered   Himself   to  the  world 

as  the  solution  of  its  difficulties  and  the  source 

1  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam,  xxxvi. 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person  61 

of  a  new  life.  He  asked  men  simply  to  be- 
lieve in  Him,  to  love  Him,  to  follow  Him.  He 
called  the  self-righteous  to  humble  themselves 
to  His  correction,  the  sinful  to  confide  in  His 
forgiveness,  the  doubting  to  trust  His  assur- 
ance, and  the  believing  to  accept  His  guid- 
ance into  fuller  light. ^  To  those  Avho  became 
His  disciples  He  gave  doctrine  and  instruction 
in  many  things.  But  to  those  who  v/ere  not 
yet  His  disciples,  to  the  world,  He  offered  first 
of  all  Himself,  not  a  doctrine,  not  a  plan  of 
life,  but  a  living  Person.  This  was  the  sub- 
stance of  His  first  sermon  when  He  stood  up 
in  the  sj^nagogue  at  Nazareth  and  having  read 
from  the  Book  of  Isaiah  the  prophecy  of  the 
Great  Liberator,  declared  unto  the  people 
"  This  day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in  your 
ears." 2  This  was  the  attraction  of  His  univer- 
sal invitation,  ''  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  Avill  give 
you  rest."^  This  was  the  heart  of  His  sum- 
mary of  His  completed  work  when  He  said,  "T, 
if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  Me."* 

1  Henry  Latliara,   Pastor  rastorum  (New  York,  James 
Pott  &  Co,,  1891),  pp.  278-275. 
2St.  Luke  iv.  16-21. 

3  St.  Matt,  xi,  28. 

4  St.  John  xii.  32. 


62  The   Giospel  of  a  Person 

We  are  not  considering,  at  this  moment,  tlie 
tremendous  implications  of  such  a  personal 
self-assertion,  unparalleled,  I  believe,  in  the 
founder  of  any  other  religion.  We  pass  by 
for  the  present  that  famous  and  inevitable 
alternative,  Aut  Christus  Deus,  aut  homo  non 
bonus  est^  The  point,  now,  is  simply  this. 
As  a  matter  of  history,  setting  aside  all  ques- 
tion of  the  divine  inspiration  and  authority 
of  the  Gospels,  taking  them  merely  as  a 
trustworthy  report  of  a  certain  sequence  of 
events,^  it  is  plain  that  the  force  which  started 
the  religion  of  Jesus  was  the  person  Jesus. 
Christ  was  His  own  Christianity.  Ciirist  was 
the  core  of  His  own  gospel. 
The  life  of  Read  on  through  the  other  books  of  the  New 

the  Church  i        *  i     i        t-i    •     i 

noioedfrom     iestament,  the  Acts  and  tlie  .hpistlus,  and  you 
Christ.  ^yiii  gee  that  they  are  just  the  record  of  the 

operation  of  this  force  in  life   and  literature. 

It  was  this  that  sent  the  apostles  out  into  the 

1  See  Appendix,  not(!  10. 

2  The  evidence  for  the  historic  trustworthiness  of  the 
Gospels  may  be  found  summed  up  in  its  modern  form  in  Dr. 
Sahnon's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  fourth  edition. 
(New  York,  Young  &  Co.,  1889);  in  Bishop  Lightfoot's  Es- 
says on  '"''Supernatural  Beligion^''  (Macmillan,  1889);  in 
Beyschlag's  New  Testament  Theology  (Edinburgh,  T.  &  T. 
Clarlc,  1895),  pp.  29-31,  216-221  of  volume  i. ;  and  in  Prof 
George  P.  Fisher's  Grounds  of  Thoistic  and  Christian  Be- 
lief {i^crihucrs,  1883).  ...,.: 


The  Gospel  of  a  Pet^son  63 

world,  reluctantly  and  hesitatingly  at  first,  then 
joyfully  and  triumphantly,  like  men  driven  by 
an  irresistible  impulse.  It  was  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Christ  that  converted  them,i  the  love 
of  Christ  that  constrained  them,^  the  power  of 
Christ  that  impelled  them.^  He  was  their 
certainty*  and  their  strength.^  He  Avas  their 
peace  ^  and  their  hope.'^  For  Christ  they  la- 
boured and  suffered  ;  ^  in  Christ  they  gloried  ;  ^ 
for  Christ's  sake  they  lived  and  died.^^  They 
felt  and  they  declared  that  the  life  that  was  in 
them  was  His  life.^i  They  were  confident  that 
they  could  do  all  things  through  Christ  which 
strengthened  them.  1^  The  offices  of  the  Church 
—  apostle,  bishop,  deacon,  evangelist,  —  call 
them  by  what  names  you  will  —  were  simply 
forms  of  service  to  Him  as  iNIaster ;  ^^  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  were  simply  unfold- 
ings  of  what  she  had  received  from  Him  as 
Teacher  ;  i*  the  worship  of  the  Church,  as  dis  ■ 
tinguished  from  that  of  the  Jewish  Synagogue 
and  the  Heathen  Temple,  was  the  adoration 
of  Christ  as  Lord.^^ 

Now  it   Avas   precisely  tliis   relation   of   the 

1  Gal.  i,  16.  c  Epli.  ii.  14.  n  Gal.  ii.  20. 

2  2  Cor.  V.  14.  "  Col.  i.  27.  12  phn.  [y^  13. 

3  2  Cor.  xii.  9.  ^  Phil.  iii.  8-10.  i3  Eph.  iv.  8-12. 

4  2  Tim.  i.  12.  ^  Gal.  vi.  14.  ^^  1  Cor.  xi.  1,  23 ;  xv.  3. 
6  2  Tim.  ii.  1.  i'^  2  Cor.  iv.  5,  11.  i^  piiH.  u.  1 1 ;  1  Cor.  xii.  3. 


64  The   Gospel  of  a  P 


erson 

The  influ-      early  Church,  in  her  organization  and  doctrine 
Tii^'t-    7     ^^^^  worship,   to  the  person   Christ,  held  fast 
came  from     in  her  memory  as  identical  with  the  real  Jesus 
"*"^^'  who  was  born  in  Bethlehem  and  crucified  on 

Calvary,  conceived  in  her  faith  as  still  living 
and  present  with  His  disciples,  —  it  was  this 
personal  animation  of  the  Clnirch  by  Christ 
that  gave  her  influence  over  men.  Contrary 
to  all  human  probability,  against  the  prejudice 
of  the  Hebrews  Avho  abhorred  the  name  of  a 
crucified  man,  against  the  prejudice  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  who  despised  the  name 
of  a  common  Jew,  she  made  her  Avay,  not  by 
concealing,  but  by  exalting  and  glorifying,  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Indeed,  it  seems  as  if 
her  career  of  conquest  was  actually  delayed 
until  that  name  was  taken  up  and  Avritten  upon 
her  banners.  It  was  in  Antioch,  where  the 
disciples  were  first  called  Christians,^  tliat  the 
missionary  enterprise  of  the  Church  began,  and 
it  was  from  that  centre,  witli  that  title,  tliat 
she  went  out  to  lier  triumph. 
T/ie  manic  The  name  of  Clirist  was  magical ;  not  as  a 
secret  and  unintelligible  incantation,  but  as 
the  sign  of  a  real  person,  known  and  loved. 
It  enlightened  and  healed  and  quickened  the 
heart  of  an  age  which,  like  our  own,  was  dark 
1  Acta  xi.  26-5  ;xiii.  1-3. 


of  Chrif^fs 
Primr. 


The   Gospel  of  a  Person  63 

and  sorrowful  and  heavy  with  doubt.  It  was 
the  charm  which  drew  men  to  Christianity  out 
of  the  abstractions  of  philosophy,^  and  the  con- 
fusions of  idolatry  darkened  with  a  thousand 
personifications  but  empty  of  all  true  person- 
ality. The  music  of  that  name  rang  through 
all  the  temple  of  the  Church,  and  to  its  har- 
monies her  walls  were  builded.  The  acknow- 
ledgment of  that  name  was  the  mark  of  Christian 
discipleship.  To  confess  that  "Jesus  is  the 
Christ  "  was  the  way  to  enter  the  Church.  The 
symbolism  of  that  name  was  the  mark  of  Chris- 
tian worship.  The  central  rites  of  the  Church 
were  baptism  into  Christ  and  communion  with 
Christ.  Fidelity  to  His  name  was  the  crown 
of  Christian  martyrdom.  Unnumbered  multi- 
tudes of  men  and  women  and  children  went 
down  to  death  because  they  would  not  deny 
the  Christ.  Whatever  the  early  Church 
was  and  did,  beyond  a  doubt  her  character 
and  her  activity  were  but  the  resultant  of 
the  personal  influence  that  flowed  from  Jesus 
Christ.2 

When  we  turn  to  follow  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity through  the  later  centuries  down  to  the 

1  See  Justin  Martyr,  Dialogue  loith  Trypho,  chap,  viii, 

2  George  B.  Stevens,  The  Pauline  Theology.     See  Appen- 
dix, note  20. 


66 


The   Gospel  of  a  Person 


Christ  is 
the  charm 
of  Christi- 
anity, 


Thepersonai  present  time,  we  see  that  the  same  thing  is 
^Chr7st^  true.  The  temporal  power  of  the  Bishop  of 
continues.  Rome  doubtless  grew  out  of  the  union  of  the 
Church  with  the  Empire.  The  immense  wealth 
and  secular  authority  of  ecclesiastics  may  be 
traced  to  social  and  political  causes.  But  the 
inward,  vitalizing,  self-propagating  power  of 
Christianity  as  a  religion  has  always  come  from 
the  person  of  Jesus  who  stands  at  the  heart  of 
it.  The  attraction  of  its  hymns  and  psalms  and 
spiritual  songs,  the  beauty  of  its  holy  days  and 
solemn  ceremonies,  were  derived  from  Him 
who  is  the  central  figure  in  praise  and  prayer. 
The  renaissance  of  Christian  Art  sprang  from 
the  desire  to  picture  to  the  imagination  the 
visible,  adorable  form  and  face  of  Him  whom 
speculative  theology  had  so  often  concealed  or 
obscured.  The  penetrating  and  abiding  fra- 
grance of  Christian  literature  resides  in  those 
books,  like  The  Imitation  of  Christ,  in  which  the 
sweetness  of  His  character  is  embalmed  forever. 
The  potency  of  Christian  preaching  comes  from, 
and  is  measured  by,  the  clearness  of  the  light 
which  it  throws  upon  the  personality  of  Jesus. 
Read  the  roll  of  those  in  every  age  whom  the 
world  has  acknowledged  as  the  best  Christians, 
kings  and  warriors  and  philosophers,  martyrs 
and  heroes  and  labourers  in  every  noble  cause, 


The  Grospel  of  a  Persoti  67 

the  purest  and  the  highest  of  mankind,  and  you 
will  see  that  the  test  by  which  they  are  judged, 
the  mark  by  which  they  are  recognized,  is 
likeness  and  loyalty  to  the  personal  Christ. 
Then  turn  to  the  work  which  the  Church  is 
doing  to-day  in  the  lowest  and  darkest  fields 
of  human  life,  among  the  submerged  classes  of 
our  great  cities,  among  the  sunken  races  of 
heathendom,  and  you  cannot  deny  that  the 
force  of  that  work  to  enlighten  and  uplift,  still 
depends  upon  the  simplicity  and  reality  with 
which  it  reveals  the  person  of  Jesus  to  the 
hearts  of  men.  Christianity  as  a  missionary 
religion  would  be  fatally  crippled  if  you  took 
out  of  it  the  familiar  story  of  Jesus  and  His 
love. 

"Mr.  Darwin,"  says  Admiral  Sir  James  Sulli-  ^^^  testi- 
van,  "  had  often  expressed  to  me  his  conviction  doubter. 
that  it  was  utterly  useless  to  send  missionaries 
to  such  a  set  of  savages  as  the  Fuegians,  proba- 
bly the  very  lowest  of  the  human  race.  I  had 
always  replied  that  I  did  not  believe  any  human 
beings  existed  too  low  to  comprehend  the  sim- 
ple message  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  After 
many  years  he  wrote  to  me  that  the  recent 
account  of  the  mission  showed  that  he  had  been 
wrong  and  I  right  .  .  .  and  he  requested  me 
to  forward  to  the  Society  an  enclosed  cheque 


68 


The   Gospel  of  a  Person 


The  force 
lohich 
breaks  the 
inertia  of 
unbelief. 


for  <£5,  as  a  testimony  of  his  interest  in  their 
good  work."  ^ 

Observe,  we  are  not  constructing  an  argu- 
ment. We  are  only  tracing  a  force,  —  the 
force  that  flows  from  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  more  closely,  the  more  j^owerfully  we  can 
feel  it  in  ourselves  and  in  others,  the  more  confi- 
dently we  can  come  to  a  doubting  age  and  say  : 
Here  is  this  force,  intense,  persistent,  far- 
reaching.  It  has  moved  all  kinds  of  men, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  What  do  you 
make  of  it  ?  What  will  you  do  with  it  ?  Is 
it  not  the  only  thing  that  can  lift  and  move 
you  out  of  your  doubt  ?  For  scepticism  is 
just  the  inertia  of  the  soul  which  stands 
poised  between  contrary  and  mutually  destruc- 
tive theories.  From  that  state  of  impotence 
there  is  but  one  deliverance,  and  that  is  by 
force,  the  force  of  life  embodied  in  a  person. 


Ill 


The  gospel 
of  a  real 
spiritual 
world. 


But  the  force  which  proceeds  from  the  person 
of  Jesus  is  not  mere  power,  blind  and  purpose- 
less. It  moves  always  in  a  certain  direction. 
It  has  a  quality  in  it  which  produces  certain 

1  Alfred  Barry,  Some  Lights  of  Science  on  the  Faith 
(London,  Longmans,  1892),  p.  116. 


The  Grospel  of  a  Person  69 

results.  And  one  of  these  results  is  an  im- 
mediate and  overwhelming  sense  of  the  reality 
and  nearness  of  spiritual  things.  This  is  the 
third  point  of  adaptation  in  the  gospel  of  the 
personal  Christ  to  the  needs  of  a  sceptical  age. 
It  carries  with  itself  an  evidence  of  things  not 
seen,  a  substance  of  things  hoped  for. 

An  aura  of  wonder  and  mystery  surrounded  Themijstenj 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  His  earthly  life.  All  who 
came  in  contact  with  Him  felt  it  ;  in  love,  if 
they  desired  to  believe  ;  in  repulsion,  if  they 
hated  to  believe.  In  His  presence,  faith  in  the 
invisible,  in  the  soul,  in  the  future  life,  in 
God,  revived  and  unfolded  with  new  bloom 
and  colour.  In  His  presence  hypocrisy  was 
silenced  and  afraid,  but  sincere  piety  found  a 
voice  and  prayed.  This  effluence  of  His  char- 
acter breathes  from  the  whole  record  of  His 
life.  It  was  not  merely  what  He  said  to  men 
about  the  eternal  verities  that  convinced  them. 
It  was  something  in  Himself,  an  atmosphere 
surrounding  Him,  and  a  silent  radiance  shining 
from  Him,  that  made  it  easier  for  them  to 
believe  in  their  own  spiritual  nature  and  in 
the  Divine  existence  and  presence.  He  drew 
out  of  their  fallen  and  neglected  hearts,  by 
some  celestial  attraction,  spontaneous,  gentle, 
irresistible,    a   new    efflorescence    of  faith    and 


70  The   Grospel  of  a  Person 

hope  and  love.      Where  He  came    a   spiritual 

springtide    flowed    over   the   landscape    of   the 

inner   life.      Blossoms    appeared   in   the    earth 

and  the  time  for  the  singing  of  birds  was  come. 

The  effect  of       Faith  was   not   imposed  on  doubting  hearts 

Hispres- 

ence.  by   an    external    and   mechanical    process.      It 

grew  in  the  warmth  that  streamed  from  Him. 
It  was  not  merely  that  men  were  at  their  best 
in  His  company,  except,  indeed,  those  who 
were  at  their  worst  through  sullen  resistance 
and  malignant  alarm  at  His  power.  It  was 
that  men  were  conscious  of  something  far  bet- 
ter than  their  best,  a  transcendent  force,  an 
influence  from  the  unfathomable  heights  above 
them.  And  to  withstand  it  they  must  sink 
below  themselves,  make  new  falsehoods  and 
new  negations  to  bind  them  down,  grapple 
themselves  more  closely  to  the  base,  the 
earthly,  the  sensual.  But  if  they  yielded  to 
that  influence,  it  lifted  and  moved  their 
thoughts  inevitably  upward.  It  was  not 
merely  what  He  told  them  of  His  own  sight 
of  spiritual  things.  It  was  what  they  saw 
reflected  in  His  face  and  form  of  that  loftier, 
wider  outlook.  He  was  like  one  standing  on  a 
high  peak,  reporting  of  the  sunrise  to  men  in 
the  dark  valley.  They  heard  His  words.  But 
they  saw  also  upon  His  countenance  the  glow 


The  Gospel  of  a  Pej^son  71 

of   dawn,    and    dazzling    all    about    Him    the 
incommunicable  splendours  of  a  new  day. 

This  was  the  effect  of  the  personality  of 
Jesus,  as  He  stood  amid  the  shadows  and  un- 
certainties of  human  life ;  an  effect  strangely 
overlooked  and  ignored,  often  even  beclouded 
and  hidden,  in  much  that  has  been  written 
about  Him  by  theologians  and  historians.  I 
do  not  dream  that  I  can  put  it  into  words. 
But  I  know  that  it  can  be  felt  as  a  reality  in 
the  Gospels.  And  I  turn  back  to  one  who  saw 
Him  face  to  face,  one  who  touched  His  hand 
and  leaned  upon  His  bosom,  for  the  expression 
of  the  soul-uplifting,  faith-begetting  wonder  of 
the  person  of  Christ  :  The  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us,  and  ^ve  beheld  His  glory, 
the  glory  as  of  the  only-hegotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truths 

Nor  has  this  effect  vanished  from  the  world  The  influ- 
with  the  removal  of  the  bodily  presence  of  picture. 
Jesus.  It  has  perpetuated  itself  by  its  own 
vital  power,  increasing  rather  than  diminish- 
ing. It  still  flows  from  the  picture  of  His  life 
which  is  preserved  in  the  Gospels,  from  the 
image  of  His  character  as  it  is  formed  in  the 
minds  of  men.  Eliminate,  if  you  please,  what 
is  called  the  miraculous  element.  Make  what 
1  St.  John  i.  14. 


Christ 
unique. 


72  The    Gospel  of  a  Person 

allowance  you  will  for  the  enthusiasm  and 
unguarded  utterance  of  His  disciples.  There 
still  remains  that  enthusiasm  itself  to  be  reck- 
oned with,  an  enthusiasm  which  was  kindled 
by  Him  alone.  There  still  remains  the  figure 
of  the  person  of  Christ,  who  never  can  be 
expressed  in  terms  of  matter  and  force,  who 
never  can  be  explained  by  natural  and  histori- 
cal causes,  who  carries  us  by  His  own  inherent 
mystery  into  the  presence  of  the  spiritual,  the 
divine,  the  supernatural. 

Something  of  this  spiritual  light,  I  will  ad- 
mit,—  nay,  I  Avill  maintain  with  joyous  and 
firm  conviction,  —  comes  from  every  human 
personality,  even  the  lowliest,  in  so  far  as  it 
refuses  to  be  summed  uj^  in  terms  of  sense 
perception,  in  so  far  as  it  gives  evidence,  by 
its  affections  and  hopes  and  fears,  of  ele- 
ments in  man  that  are  not  of  the  dust.  But 
in  Christ  this  light  is  transcendent  and  unique, 
because  He  manifestly  surpasses  the  ordinary 
attainments  of  humanity,  because  He  cannot 
be  accounted  for  by  the  laws  of  heredity 
and  environment.  The  more  closely  we  apply 
these  laws,  the  more  clearly  He  shines  out 
above  them.^ 

"  The  learned  men  of  our  day,"  says  M. 
1  J.  S.  Mill,  Essays  on  Beligion,  p.  253. 


The   G-ospel  of  a  Person  73 

Pierre  Loti  in  his  latest  book,  La  GalilSe, 
"have  endeavoured  to  find  a  human  explica- 
tion of  His  mission,  but  they  have  not  yet 
reached  it.  .  .  .  Around  Him,  none  the  less, 
there  still  glows  a  radiance  of  beams  which 
cannot  be  comprehended."  ^ 

Historically  He   appears   alone,  as  no  great   Christ 

1  1      1     i<  •  solitary. 

man     has     ever     appeared     before    or     since. 

Heroes,  teachers,  and  leaders  of  men  have 
always  been  seen  as  central  stars  in  larger 
constellations,  surrounded  by  lesser  but  kin- 
dred lights.  Plato  shines  in  conjunction  with 
Socrates  and  Aristotle;  Caesar  with  Pompey  and 
Crassus ;  Luther  with  Melanchthon  and  Cal- 
vin ;  Shakespeare  with  Beaumont  and  Fletcher 
and  Ben  Jonson ;  Napoleon  surrounded  with 
his  brilliant  staff  of  marshals  and  diplomats  ; 
Wordsworth  among  the  mild  glories  of  the 
Lake  poets.  In  every  case,  if  you  search  the 
neighbourhood  of  a  great  name,  you  will  find 
not  a  blank  sky,  but  an  encircling  galaxy. 
But  Jesus  Christ  stands  in  an  immense  sol- 
itude. Among  the  prophets  Avho  predicted 
Him,  among  the  apostles  who  testified  of 
Him,  there  is  none  worthy  to  be  compared  or 
conjoined  with  Him.  It  is  as  if  the  heavens 
were  swept  bare  of  stars ;  and  suddenly,  un- 
1  Pierre  Loti,  La  Galilee  (Paris,  1895),  p.  93. 


Christ  sin- 
less. 


74  The   Gospel  of  a  Person 

expected,   unaccompanied,  the    light   of   lights 
appears  alone,  in  supreme  isolation. 

Nor  is  there  anything  in  His  antecedents, 
in  His  surroundings,  to  explain  His  appear- 
ance and  radiance.  There  was  nothing  in  the 
soil  of  the  sordid  and  narrow  Jewish  race 
to  produce  such  an  embodiment  of  pure  and 
universal  love.^  There  was  nothing  in  the 
atmosphere  of  that  corrupt  and  sensual  age 
to  beget  or  foster  such  a  character  of  stainless 
and  complete  virtue.  Nor  was  His  own  life, 
—  I  say  it  reverently,  —  judged  by  purely  hu- 
man and  natural  laws,  calculated  to  result  in 
such  an  evident  perfection  as  all  men  have 
wonderingly  recognized  in  Him.  The  high- 
est type  of  human  piety,  the  excellence  of  a 
beautiful  soul,  has  never  been  reached  among 
men  without  repentance  and  self-abasement. 
But  Jesus  never  repented,  never  abased  Him- 
self in  shame  and  sorrow  before  God,  never 
asked  for  pardon  and  mercy.  Alone,  among 
His  followers  who  kneel  at  His  command  to 
confess  their  unworthiness  and  implore  for- 
giveness. He  stands  upright  and  lifts  a  cloud- 
less  face  to   heaven  in  the  inexplicable  glory 

i  Amory  H.  Bradford,  Heredity  and  Christian  Problems 
(New  York,  Macmillau,  1895),  p.  266.  See  Appendix, 
note  21. 


The   Gospel  of  a  Person  75 

of  piety  without  penitence.  Moral  perfection 
of  this  kind  is  not  only  without  a  parallel  ; 
it  is  also  without  an  approach.  Men  have 
never  attained  to  it,  and  there  is  no  way  for 
them  to  climb  thither.  We  can  only  look  up 
to  that  perfection,  serene,  sinless,  unsurpassable, 
and  feel  that  here  we  are  in  sight  of  something 
which  cannot  be  expressed  except  by  saying 
that  it  is  the  glory  of  eternal  spirit  embodied 
in  a  person. 

IV 

But  the  force  which  resides  in  the  person  The  gospel 
of  Jesus  is  not  exhausted  in  the  production 
of  this  profound  impression  of  its  own  spirit- 
ual and  transcendent  nature.  It  goes  beyond 
this  result  of  a  vivid  sense  of  the  reality 
of  the  unseen.  It  has  in  itself  a  purifying, 
cleansing  powder,  a  delivering,  uplifting,  sanc- 
tifying power.  The  Gospel  of  Christ  is  the 
gospel  of  a  person  who  saves  men  from  sin.^ 
And  herein  it  comes  very  close  to  the  heart 
of  a  doubting  age. 

The  great  and  wonderful  fact  of  this  expe- 
rience,  which    can    neither   be   questioned    nor 
fully  explained,  is    not   involved  in  the   theo- 
logical speculations  which  have  gathered  about 
1  See  Appendix,  note  22, 


76  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

it.  The  person  of  Jesus  stands  out  clear 
and  simple  as  a  poAverful  Saviour  of  sinful 
men  and  women.  In  His  presence,  the  publi- 
can and  the  harlot  felt  their  hearts  dissolve 
with  I  know  not  what  unutterable  rapture 
of  forgiveness.  At  His  word,  the  heavy- 
laden  were  mysteriously  loosed  from  the 
imponderable  burden  of  past  transgression. 
He  suffered  with  sinners,  and  even  while 
He  suffered  He  delivered  them  from  the 
sharpest  of  all  pains, — the  pain  of  conscious 
The  power     ^iwdi    unpardoned    evil.     He    died    for    sinners, 

of  ChrisVs 

cross.  according  to    His  own  word  ;    and  ever  since, 

His  cross  has  been  the  sign  of  rescue  for 
humanity.  Whatever  may  be  the  nature 
of  that  sublime  transaction  upon  Calvary ; 
whatever  the  name  by  which  men  call  it, — 
Atonement,  Sacrifice,  Redemption,  Propitia- 
tion ;  whatever  relations  it  may  have  to  the 
eternal  moral  law  and  to  the  Divine  right- 
eousness,—  its  relation  to  the  human  heart  is 
luminous  and  beautiful.  It  does  take  away 
sin.  Kneeling  at  that  holy  altar,  the  soul  at 
once  remembers  most  vividly,  and  confesses 
most  humbly,  and  loses  most  entirely,  all  her 
guilt.  A  sense  of  profound,  unutterable  relief, 
a  sacred  quietude,  diffuses  itself  through  all 
the    recesses  of   the   troubled   spirit.      Looking 


The   Grospel  of  a  Person  77 

unto  Christ  crucified,  we  receive  an  assurance 
of  sin  forgiven,  which  goes  deeper  than  thought 
can  fathom,  and  far  deeper  than  words  can 
measure. 

"  We  may  not  know,  we  cannot  tell 
What  pains  He  had  to  bear, 
But  we  believe  it  was  for  us 
He  hung  and  suffered  there. 

"  He  died  that  we  might  be  forgiven, 
He  died  to  make  us  good  ; 
That  we  might  go  at  last  to  heaven, 
Saved  by  His  precious  blood." 

This  is  not  theory,  this  is  not  philosophy, 
this  is  not  theology.  It  is  veritable  fact.  The 
person  Jesus,  living  Avith  men,  dying  for  men, 
has  actually  made  this  impression  of  pardon  for 
the  past  and  hope  for  the  future,  upon  the  heart 
of  mankind.  And  from  pure  love  of  Him  —  a 
love  which  is  first  of  all  and  most  of  all  a  sense 
of  gratitude  for  this  immeasurable  service  — 
have  blossomed,  often  out  of  the  very  abysses  of 
sin  and  degradation,  the  saintliest  and  sublimest 
lives  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Now  this,  as  I  know  from  my  own  experience, 
is  the  gospel  for  doubting  men,  and  for  an  age 
of   doubt ;  the  gospel  of  a  Person  who  is  a  fact 


78  The   Gospel  of  a  Person 

and  a  force,  an  evidence  of  the  unseen,  and  a 
Saviour  from  sin.  Can  we  preach  it  ?  Will  we 
preach  it  ?  Then  one  thing  is  necessary  for 
us,  a  thing  which  might  not  be  necessary, 
perhaps,  if  our  message  were  of  another  kind. 

All  knowledge,  of  the  world,  of  human  na- 
ture, of  books,  will  be  helpful  and  tributary  ; 
all  gifts,  of  clear  thought,  of  powerful  speech, 
of  prudent  action,  will  be  valuable  and  should 
be  cultivated  :  but  one  thing  will  be  abso- 
lutely and  forever  indispensable. 
To  know  If  ^ye  are  to  preach   Christ  we  must  know 

the  one  Christ,  and  know  Him  in  such  a  sense  that  we 

thing  need-  can  say  with  St.  Paul  that  we  are  determined 
not  to  know  anything  save  Jesus  Christ  and 
Him  crucified.^  We  must  study  Him  in  the 
record  of  His  life  until  His  character  is  more 
real  and  vivid  to  us  than  that  of  brother  or 
friend.  We  must  imagine  Him  with  ardent 
soul,  until  His  figure  glows  before  our  inward 
sight,  and  His  words  sound  in  our  ears  as  a 
living  voice.  We  must  love  with  His  love,  and 
sorrow  with  His  grief,  and  rejoice  with  His  joy, 
and  offer  ourselves  with  His  sacrifice,  so  truly, 
so  intensely  that  we  can  say,  as  St.  Paul  said, 
that  we  are  crucified  by  His  cross  and  risen  in 
His  resurrection. 2  We  must  trace  the  power 
1  1  Cor.  ii.  2.  2  Qal.  ii.  20. 


The  Gospel  of  a  Person  79 

of  His  life  in  the  lives  of  our  fellow-men,  fol- 
lowing and  realizing  His  triumphs  in  souls 
redeemed  and  sins  forgiven,  until  we  know 
the  rapture  that  thrilled  the  breast  of  a  St. 
Bernard,  a  St.  Francis,  a  Thomas  a  Kempis,  a 
Samuel  Rutherford,  a  Robert  McCheyne  ;  the 
chivalrous  loyalty  that  animated  a  Henry  Have- 
lock,  a  Charles  Kingsley,  a  Frederick  Robert- 
son, a  Charles  Gordon  ;  the  deep  devotion  that 
strengthened  a  David  Brainerd,  a  Henry  Mar- 
ty n,  a  Coleridge  Patteson.  We  must  become 
the  brothers  of  these  men  through  brotherhood 
with  Christ.  We  must  kindle  our  hearts  in 
communion  with  Him,  by  meditation,  by  prayer, 
and  by  service,  which  is  the  best  kind  of 
prayer.  No  day  must  pass  in  which  we  do  not 
do  something  distinctly  in  Jesus'  name,  for 
Jesus'  sake.  We  must  go  where  He  would  go 
if  He  were  on  earth.  We  must  try  to  do  what 
He  would  do  if  He  were  still  among  men. 
And  so,  by  our  failure  as  well  as  by  our  effort, 
by  the  very  contrast  between  our  incomplete- 
ness and  His  perfection,  the  image  of  our  Com- 
panion and  our  saving  Lord  will  grow  radiant 
and  distinct  within  us.  We  shall  know  that 
potent  attraction  which  His  person  has  exer- 
cised upon  the  hearts  of  men,  and  feel  in 
our  breast  that  overmastering  sense  of  loyalty 


80  The  Gospel  of  a  Person 

to   Him,   which   alone    can   draw  us  to  follow 
Him  through  life  and  death. 

"  If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  man, — 
And  only  a  man,  —  I  say 
That  of  all  mankind  I  cleave  to  Him^ 
And  to  Him  will  I  cleave  alway, 

"  If  Jesus  Christ  is  a  God,  — 
And  the  only  God,  —  I  swear 
I  will  follow  Him  through  heaven  and  hell, 
The  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  air."i 

1  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  "  Song  of  a  Heathen,  sojourning 
in  Galilee,  a.d.  32." 


Ill 

THE   UNVEILING   OF   THE    FATHER 


"  He,  who  from  the  Father  forth  was  sent, 
Came  the  true  Light,  light  to  our  hearts  to  bring; 
The  Word  of  God,  —  the  telling  of  His  thought ; 
The  Light  of  God,  —  the  making  visible ; 
The  far-transcending  glory  brought 
In  human  form  with  man  to  dwell ; 
The  dazzling  gone  —  the  power  not  less 
To  show,  irradiate,  and  bless  ; 
The  gathering  of  the  primal  rays  divine. 
Informing  Chaos  to  a  pure  sunshine  !  " 

—  Geokge  MacDonald. 


Ill 

THE   UNVEILING   OF   THE   FATHEE 


In  the  famous  fifteenth  chapter  of  The  De-  AscepH&s 
dine    and    Fall   of    the    Roman   JSmpi7'e^    that 


painstaking  historian  and  superficial  sceptic, 
Edward  Gibbon,  Esq.,  introduces  an  account  of 
the  rise  and  spread  of  the  Christian  Religion. 
He  attributes  its  remarkable  triumph  over  the 
established  religions  of  the  earth  to  a  series  of 
causes  which  he  ironically  describes  as  sec- 
ondary, and  uniformly  treats  as  primary.  He 
exhibits  them  as  in  themselves  sufficient  to 
explain  the  peculiarly  favourable  reception  of 
the  Christian  faith  in  the  world,  and  sets  aside 
the  question  of  a  possible  divine  origin  as 
unnecessary.  With  serene  self-satisfaction  he 
traces  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Christian  Church 
to  the  five  following  causes :  I.  The  Zeal  of 
the  Christians^  derived  from  the  Jews,  —  but 
purified  from  that  narrow  and  unsocial  spirit 
which,  instead  of  inviting,  had  deterred  the 
Gentiles  from  embracing  the  law  of  Moses. 
83 


the  spread  of 
Christian- 
ity. 


ness  of  this 
view 


84  The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 

II.  The  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life^  improved 
by  every  additional  circumstance  which  could 
give  weight  and  efficacy  to  that  important 
truth.  III.  The  Miraculous  Foivers  ascribed 
to  the  primitive  Church.  IV.  The  Fure  and 
Austere  Morals  of  the  Christians.  V.  The 
Union  and  Biscipline  of  the  Christian  Republic^ 
Avhich  gradually  formed  an  increasing  and  in- 
dependent state  in  the  heart  of  the  Roman 
empire.^ 
The  shallow-  Now  this  is  a  very  fair,  we  may  even  say  a 
brilliant,  example  of  the  kind  of  work  which 
was  done  by  the  shallow  and  complacent  scep- 
ticism of  a  century  ago.  But  the  moment  we 
subject  it  to  the  more  searching  analysis  of  the 
scepticism  of  the  present  age,  it  dissolves  into 
a  thin  and  incoherent  absurdity.  For  it  is 
evident  that,  so  far  from  giving  an  explanation 
of  the  growth  of  Christianity,  Gibbon  is  simply 
describing  some  of  the  phenomena  which  ac- 
companied that  growth.  What,  for  example, 
is  "  the  zeal  of  the  Christians  "  but  an  unillu- 
minating  name  for  a  contagious  and  irresistible 
enthusiasm  which  spread  through  the  world 
in   connection  with  faith  in  Christ  ?     What  is 

1  Edward  Gibbon,  Esq.,  A  History  of  the  Decline  and 
Fall  of  the  Boman  Empire  (London,  John  Murray,  8th 
Edition,  1854),  vol.  ii.,  p.  152. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  85 

'*  the  union  and  discipline  of  the  Christian  re- 
puHic  "  but  a  description,  without  explanation, 
of  the  organic  unfolding  of  a  new,  myste- 
rioMs  principle  of  fellowship.  These  alleged 
"  causes,"  more  closely  examined,  are  in  fact 
the  very  things  that  require  to  be  accounted 
for.  Instead  of  clearing  up  the  mystery,  they 
increase  it. 

By  a  singular  fatality  of  language,  the  seep-   The "  ex- 
tical  historian  has  embodied  in  the  statement  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^^ 
of  his  position  the  demonstration  of  its  insuf-  explained. 
ficiency.     In  each   of  his   causes,  and   in   the 
relation   that   subsists   between   them,    he   has 
practically    suggested    a   difficulty    which    de- 
mands another   and  a  higher   solution  of  the 
whole  problem.     Examine  his  words  carefully. 

By  what  means,  human   or  divine,  was  the    Questions 

ti^li  i oil  (1p^ 

zeal  of  the  Christians  '  purified  from  the  narrow  „^^^^^^  ^^ 
and  unsocial  spirit  of  the  Jews  '  ?  The  natural  (^n 
history  of  sects  and  schisms  teaches  us  that 
their  invariable  tendency  is  to  intensify  rather 
than  to  eliminate  bigotry  and  exclusiveness. 
Through  what  influence  was  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  life  '  improved  by  every  additional  cir- 
cumstance that  could  give  it  weight  and  effi- 
cacy '  ?  The  inevitable  course  of  its  human 
development  under  the  guidance  of  abstract 
philosophy  has  been  towards  vagueness,  cold- 


swe7\ 


86  The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 

ness,  and  uncertainty;  under  the  guidance  of 
concrete  su^^erstition,  towards  j^uerility  and 
crass  sensualism.  On  what  grounds  were  mir- 
aculous powers  ascribed  to  the  early  Church  ? 
They  must  have  been  ascribed  truly  or  falsely. 
If  truly,  there  must  have  been  some  basis  of 
fact  for  them  to  rest  upon.  If  falsely,  the 
Christians  themselves  were  either  ignorant, 
or  cognizant,  of  the  falsehood.  Take  the 
former  supposition,  and  you  present  yourself 
with  the  inex^^licable  theory  that  what  Pliny 
the  Younger  called  super stltio  prava  immodica, 
and  imagined  would  be  easily  and  certainly  ex- 
tirpated, was  able  to  hold  its  own  against  all 
the  assaults  of  learning  and  philosophy.  Take 
the  latter  supposition,  and  you  are  forced  to  the 
incredible  assumption  that  a  conscious  decep- 
tion was  the  fountain  of  hisrhest  and  strongest 
moral  force  that  the  world  has  ever  felt.^ 
How  then  did  the  "  pure  and  austere  morals  of 
the  Christians  "  come  into  existence  ?  From  a 
lie,  or  from  a  truth?  If  from  a  truth,  what 
was  the  nature  of  that  truth,  in  what  form  was 
it    expressed,    and   how   did  it   win   credence  ? 

1  Carlyle,  Heroes  and  Hero- Worship^  sect.  ii. :  "A  false 
man  found  a  religion  ?  Why,  a  false  man  cannot  even  build 
a  brick  house  !  If  he  do  not  know  and  follow  truly  the 
properties  of  mortar,  burnt  clay,  and  what  else  he  works  in, 
it  is  no  house  that  he  makes,  but  a  rubbish  heap." 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  87 

And,  finally,  liow  did  "  the  Christian  republic  " 
succeed  in  maintaining  and  increasing  itself  as 
an  independent  state  in  the  heart  of  the  Roman 
empire  ?  Every  other  attempt  to  do  this  par- 
ticular thing,  by  secret  philosophic  doctrine,  or 
by  open  political  organization,  failed,  and  was 
violently  crushed  by  imperial  power,  or  silently 
dissolved  and  absorbed  by  imperial  statesman- 
ship. How  was  it  that  this  one  invisible  fel- 
lowship, this  one  visible  organization,  lived, 
and  spread,  and  stood  out  at  last,  serene,  com- 
plete, and  magnificent,  when  the  time-worn 
ruins  of  the  empire  crumbled  around  it  ?  ^ 

The  answer  to  these  questions  is  found  in  the  The  answer 
person  of  Christ.  This  is  not  a  matter  of  choice.  *^  Ohnst. 
It  is  a  matter  of  necessity.  For  if  He  was,  as 
all  candid  observers  will  admit,  the  originator 
and  animator  of  Christianity,  then  to  stop  short 
of  Him  in  our  inquiry  as  to  the  causes  of  its 
existence  and  progress  is  to  stop  half-way,  as 
if  one  should  account  for  the  flow  of  the  Nile, 
after  the  fashion  of  the  ancient  geographers,  by 
attributing  it  to  the  melting  of  the  snows  on 
the  Mountains  of  the  Moon,  instead  of  tracing 
it  to  its  great  fountain  in  the  Albert  Nyanza. 

Christ  stands  above  and  behind  the  Church, 
and  all  these  secondary  causes  which  have  been 
1  See  Appendix,  note  23. 


88  The    Unveiiing  of  the  Father 

ChHst,  the      enumerated    to    account    for    her    growth    and 
creator  of  -,      c  tt- 

Christian-      power  now  directly  irom  Him.     He  it  was  who 
'^^y-  purified  and  humanized  the  zeal  of  Christians, 

so  that  they  emerged  from  the  narrowest  of 
races  to  preach  the  broadest  and  most  universal 
of  all  religions.  He  it  was  who  cleared  and 
enlarged  their  view  of  immortality,  so  that  it 
became  at  once  important  and  efficacious,  the 
only  doctrine  of  a  future  life  that  has  exercised 
a  direct  and  uplifting  influence  upon  the  pres- 
ent life.  He  it  was  who  endowed  the  Church 
with  whatever  powers  she  possessed.  He  it  w^as 
who  cleansed  and  ennobled  her  moral  ideals  and 
gave  her  the  only  pattern  and  rule  of  virtue 
which  has  been  universally  acknowledged  as 
self-consistent,  satisfactory,  and  supreme.  He 
it  was  who  cemented  her  union  and  strength- 
ened her  discipline  to  such  an  indestructible  sol- 
idarity, that  the  tie  which  bound  the  individual 
soul  to  Him  was  regarded  as  superior  to  all 
earthly  relations,  and  the  fellowship  which  that 
common  tie  created,  surpassed  and  survived  all 
fellowships  of  race,  of  culture,  of  nationality. 

These  are  simple  historical  facts.  In  stating 
them  we  make  no  assumptions  and  propound 
no  theories.  It  is  not  necessary  to  take  any- 
thing for  granted  or  to  adopt  any  particular 
theological  or  philosophical  system,  in  order  to 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  89 

see  clearly  and  beyond  the  possibility  of  mis- 
take that  all  the  force  and  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  world  have,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
flowed  directly  from  Jesus  Christ  and  from  the 
faith  which  He  has  inspired  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

The  one  question  of  supreme  importance,  Who,  then, 
then,  if  we  would  understand  Avhat  Christian-  ^*  '^^  " 
ity  really  means,  is,  Who  is  this  person  who 
stands  at  the  centre  of  it  and  fills  it  with  life 
and  strength?  What  did  the  first  Christians 
see  in  Him  that  made  them  believe  in  Him  so 
absolutely  and  implicitly  and  gave  them  power 
to  do  such  mighty  works?  What  has  the 
church  seen  in  Him  through  the  ages  that  has 
bound  her  to  Him  as  her  living  Lord  and  Mas- 
ter ?  And  what  are  we  to  see  in  Him  if  He  is 
to  be^in  deed  and  in  truth  the  theme  of  our 
gospel?      What  think  ye  of  Christ? 

This  question,  you  see,  is  vital  and  inevitable.  ^^^  inevi- 
If  we  are  to  have  a  Christianity  which  is  real  ^^^^^ 
and  historical,  we  must  get  into  line  with  his- 
tory. If  we  are  to  have  behind  us  the  power 
which  comes  from  actual  achievements  of  our 
gospel  in  the  Avorld,  we  must  understand  the 
relation  which  it  has  always  held  to  the  person 
of  Christ.  If  we  are  to  be  in  any  sense  the 
followers  of  the  first  Christians,  and  to  share  the 
joy  and  peace  and  power  of  their  religion,  we 


90 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 


The  historic 
ansioer. 


must  take  the  view  which  they  took,  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth.  1 

Now,  the  object  of  this  lecture  may  be  stated 
in  a  single  sentence.  It  is  to  show  that  the 
first  Christians  saw,  and  that  the  Church  has 
always  seen,  in  Jesus  Christ  a  real  incarnation 
of  God  ;  a  true  and  personal  unveiling  of  the 
Father  ;  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  Himself.  In  other  words,  not  only  must 
we  find  in  Jesus  Christ  the  centre  of  Christian- 
ity, but  we  must  also  behold  an  actual  divinity 
as  the  centre  of  life  in  Jesus  Christ. 


ChnsVs 
Godhood 
sloioly  re- 
vealed. 


We  are  not  to  suppose  that  faith  in  Christ 
began  with  a  clear  and  definite  conception  of 
His  divinity.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  evident 
from  the  whole  gosjDcl  record  that  the  idea  that 
Christ  was  divine  gradually  developed  and  un- 
folded in  the  minds  of  those  who  knew  and 
loved  and  trusted  Him.  The  idea  of  an  incar- 
nation was  foreign  to  the  Hebrew  mind.  There 
was  no  race  in  the  world  that  held  so  strongly 
to  the  thought  that  God  was  solitary,  unsearch- 
able, and  incommunicable.  They  believed  that 
even  His  true  name  could  not  be  pronounced 
by  human  lips,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for 
1  See  Appendix,  note  24. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  91 

human  eyes  really  to  behold  His  glory.  And 
the  very  strength  of  this  ancestral  faith  of 
theirs,  standing  as  it  must  have  done  directly 
in  the  way  of  belief  in  an  incarnation,  is  an  evi- 
dence of  the  tremendous  power  and  unquestion- 
able reality  of  the  experience  which  forced  the 
disciples,  by  slow  degrees,  to  believe  firmly  and 
unhesitatingly  in  the  divinity  of  Christ. 

The  process  by  which  this  result  was  accom-   The  gradual 
plished  lies  open  to   our  thought    in  the  New  ^"'^^e^*^/ 

fiXtZft  • 

Testament.  We  must  go  back  to  tlie  point  in- 
dicated in  the  second  lecture.  It  was  the  im- 
pression made  upon  the  disciples  by  Christ's 
own  manifestation  of  Himself,  His  character, 
His  actions,  and  His  words,  evidently  consistent 
and  unique,  which  led  them  at  last  to  see  in 
Him  the  object  of  divine  faith  and  worship. 
He  was  not  a  mere  man.  That  was  evident  and 
undeniable.  He  was  higher  than  men  ;  holier 
than  men  ;  He  possessed  an  excellence  and  a 
power  which  made  them  feel  in  His  presence 
that  He  was  more  than  they  were.  What  then 
was  He  ?  There  were  but  two  directions  in 
which  their  faith  could  move.  The  alternative 
was  sharply  set  before  the  disciples  on  that 
memorable  day  at  Csesarea  Philippi,  when  Christ 
asked  them  first,  "Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the 
Son  of  man,  am  ?  "  and  then,  "  But  whom  say  ye 


92  The    Unveiling  of  tlie  Father 

that  I  am  ?  "  There  were  but  two  lines  open  to 
them.  One  was  the  line  of  popular  superstition, 
which  led  them  back  into  the  past  to  see  in 
Christ  only  the  ghost  of  John  the  Baptist,  or 
Elias,  or  one  of  the  prophets  come  to  life  again. 
The  other  was  the  new  line  of  Christian  faith 
which  led  them  forward  to  see  in  Jesus  "  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  ^ 
The  new  New  ?     Of  course  it  was  new  !     It  had  to  be 

ineo     ins-  ^-^^^^  ^j-^  order  to  fit  the  facts,  which  were  such 

tian  oelief.  '  ' 

as  had  never  been  seen  before.     And  just  be- 
cause it  was  so  new  it  had  to  unfold  itself  by 
degrees  to  the  fulness  of  conscious  apprehension 
of  all  that  it  involved. 
What  it  It  is  evident  that  the  disciples  did  not  know 

meant  to  he  ^  ,  i  i        /->ii     .     i         i 

the  Christ.  ^^  ^^^^^  what  was  meant  by  the  Christhood, 
the  Messiahship,  the  fulfilment  of  all  ancient 
prophecy  and  sacred  ritual  in  Jesus.  But  they 
learned  the  lesson  as  they  kept  company  with 
Him.  They  heard  Him  speak  with  an  author- 
ity which  none  of  the  prophets  had  ever  claimed. 
Recognizing  a  divine  inspiration  in  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  He  distinctly  set  Him- 
self above  them  as  the  bringer  of  a  new  and 
better  revelation.  He  accomplished,  interpreted, 
and  revised  them.  "  Ye  have  heard  how  it  hath 
been  said  by  them  of  old  time  "  —  by  whom  ? 
1  St.  Matt.  xvi.  13-16. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  93 

By  the  lawgivers  and  prophets  and  psalmists 
whom  Christ  recoG^nized  as  His  own  forerun- 
ners  and  foretellers.  "  But  I  say  unto  you, 
love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you, 
and  pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use  you."  ^ 

Suppose  that  this  Avere  all ;  suppose  that  the  Anewpoioer 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  were  the  whole  of  the  truth. 
New  Testament,  what  should  we  behold  in  it  ? 
Not  merely  the  amazing  revelation  of  a  morality 
more  pure  and  perfect  than  any  other  the  human 
heart  has  conceived,  proceeding  from  the  lips 
of  an  unlearned  Nazarene  peasant  of  the  first 
century,  but  the  absolutely  overwhelming  sight 
of  a  believing  Hebrew  placing  Himself  above 
the  rule  of  His  own  faith,  a  humble  teacher 
asserting  supreme  authority  over  all  human 
conduct,  a  moral  reformer  discarding  all  other 
foundations,  and  saying,  "  Every  one  that  hear- 
eth  these  sayings  of  mine  and  doeth  them,  I 
will  liken  him  unto  a  wise  man  Avhich  built  his 
house  upon  a  rock."  2  Nine  and  forty  times,  in 
the  brief  and  fragmentary  record  of  the  dis- 
courses of  Jesus,  recurs  this  solemn  phrase 
with  which  He  authenticates  the  truth:  Verily^ 
I  say  unto  you.  And  every  time  that  the  dis- 
ciples heard  it  they  must  have  gotten  a  new 
idea  of  what  it  meant  to  be  the  Christ. 

1  St.  Matt.  V.  43,  44.  2  st.  Matt.  vii.  24. 


relation  to 
humanity. 


94  The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 

A  nev)  Think   also    of    the    significance    which   the 

favourite  Messianic  title  used  by  Jesus  to  de- 
scribe Himself  must  have  had  to  their  minds. 
He  called  Himself  "  the  Son  of  man. "  i  Why  ? 
Was  it  because  He  was  merely  human  ?  If 
that  was  all,  surely  it  would  not  need  to 
be  asserted  and  emphasized  again  and  again. 
Imagine  any  other  man,  the  highest  and  the 
holiest,  insisting  upon  the  reality  of  his  human 
life,  dwelling  upon  it,  repeating  the  assertion 
of  it  over  and  over.  But  this  title  was,  in  fact, 
the  claim  to  a  peculiar  and  supreme  relation  to 
the  human  race.  Christ  was  not  a  son  of  man, 
but  the  Son  of  man,  one  who,  in  the  luminous 
words  of  Irenseus,  recapitidavit  in  se  ipso  longam 
hominum  expositionem.^  And  as  such  He  as- 
sumed on  earth  and  in  His  prevision  of  heaven 
a  position  which  no  mere  man  could  rightly 
take.  "  The  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  earth 
to  forgive  sins."^  "The  Son  of  man  is  Lord 
also  of  the  Sabbath." *  "When  the  Son  of 
man  shall  come  in  His  glory,  and  all  the  holy 

1  In  St.  Matthew,  30  times ;  in  St.  Luke,  25  times ;  in 
St.  Mark,  14  times.     See  Appendix,  note  25. 

2  Irenseus,  Adv.  Hcer.,  iii.  18.  1  :  "He  summed  up  in 
himself  the  long  unfolding  of  humanity."  The  Syriac  ver- 
sion of  this  passage  is  equally  beautiful  and  significant: 
"  He  commenced  afresh  the  long  line  of  men." 

3  St.  Matt.  ix.  6.  ■*  St.  Mark  ii.  28. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  95 

angels  with  Him,  then  shall  He  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  His  glory  ;  and  before  Him  shall  be 
gathered  all  nations,  and  He  shall  separate 
them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth 
the  sheep  from  the  goats."  ^ 

Consider  what  this  implied.  It  was  a  decla-  ^  supreme 
ration  that  Jesus  expected,  and  was  willing,  to  ^^/gl^lhe 
take  into  His  own  hands  the  task  of  discrimi-  woj-ld. 
nating  between  the  good  and  the  bad  in  the 
unsearchable  confusions  and  complexities  of 
the  human  heart,  and  of  determining,  without 
hesitation,  without  misgiving,  without  redress, 
the  final  destinies  of  the  untold  myriads  of 
men  ;  "  an  office,"  it  has  been  well  said,  "  in- 
volving such  spiritual  insight,  such  discern- 
ment of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart 
of  each  one  of  the  millions  at  His  feet,  such 
awful,  unshared  supremacy  in  the  moral  world, 
that  the  imagination  recoils  in  sheer  agony 
from  the  task  of  seriously  contemplating  the 
assumption  of  these  duties  by  any  created  in- 
telligence." ^  When  the  disciples  heard  their 
Master  declare  that  He  would  fulfil  this  office 
of  Judge  of  the  World,  they  must  have  begun 
to  feel  what  it  meant  to  be  the  Christ. 

1  St.  Matt.  XXV.  31,  32. 

2  H.  P.   Liddon,    The  Divinity  of  Our  Lord   (London, 
1885),  p.  176. 


96  The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 

What  it  ]s^or  do  I  suppose  that  tliey  realized  at  first 

the  Son  of      ^^^^    ^^^^^   intention    of    tliat   second   plirase    in 
God.  which  their  view  of  Jesus  was  expressed.      The 

Son  of  the  living  God^  —  that  also  was  an  idea 
to  be  gradually  apprehended  and  unfolded. 
And  think  what  light  must  have  fallen  upon 
it  from  the  conduct  of  Jesus  as  they  followed 
Him  from  day  to  day.  The  more  closely  they 
knew  Him,  the  more  deeply  they  felt  His  sin- 
less purity  and  sovereign  virtue.  There  was  a 
certainty,  an  independence,  a  freedom  from  all 
effort  and  from  all  restraint  in  His  goodness, 
such  as  no  other  good  man  has  ever  shown. 
He  had  the  deepest  knowledge  of  the  evil  of 
sin,  yet  no  shadow  or  stain  of  it  fell  upon  His 
own  soul.  He  was  on  terms  of  closest  inti- 
macy—  an  intimacy  such  as  no  saint  ever 
dared  to  assume  —  with  God.  He  conversed 
with  the  Father  in  a  friendship  which  was 
utterly  without  fear  or  regret  or  misgiving. 
Now  when  the  disciples  saw  this,  it  must  have 
put  them  upon  deep  thoughts,  and  the  guidance 
to  these  thoughts  was  given  by  Christ's  own 
words  about  Himself.  He  put  Himself  side  by 
side  with  the  Divine  activity.  "  My  Father 
worketh  hitherto  and  I  work."^  The  Jcavs 
who  heard  Him  say  this,  sought  to  kill  Him, 
1  St.  John  V.  17. 


ChrisVs  own 
loords. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  97 

because  He  had  not  only  broken  the  Sabbath, 
but  said  also  that  God  was  His  Father,  making 
Himself  equal  with  God.  And  if  the  Jews 
thought  this,  what  did  His  own  disciples  think  ? 
He  claimed  a  Divine  origin  and  mission  :  "  I 
came  forth  from  the  Father ;  "  ^  "  My  Father 
sent  me. "  ^  He  claimed  a  Divine  knowledge  and 
fellowship  :  "  No  man  knoweth  the  Father  save 
the  Son;  "3  "O  righteous  Father,  the  world 
hath  not  known  Thee,  but  I  have  known 
Thee."'*  He  claimed  to  unveil  the  Father's 
being  in  Himself  :  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath 
seen  the  Father.  I  am  in  the  Father  and  the 
Father  in  me."^ 

To  what  conclusion  must  such  conduct  and  The 
such  words  as  these  lead  the  disciples  in  their  conclusion. 
interpretation  of  the  true  meaning  of  the  title 
"the  Son  of  God"?  A  conclusion  which  Jesus 
Himself,  if  He  was  as  wise  and  good  as  all  men 
admit,  must  inevitably  have  foreseen.  A  con- 
clusion which  He  Himself,  if  He  had  been  only 
a  holy  man,  better  than  His  disciples  but  of 
the  same  nature,  would  certainly  have  guarded 
against  and  prevented  at  any  cost.  A  con- 
clusion which  is  expressed  in  the  attitude  of 

1  St.  John  xvi.  28.  3  st.  Matt.  xi.  27. 

2  St.  John  xii.  49.  *  St.  John  xvii.  25. 

5  St.  John  xiv.  9,  11. 


10 as  Divine. 


98  The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 

Thomas,  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  Christ  and 
crying,  "My  Lord  and  my  God."^  A  conclu- 
sion which  is  finally  and  definitively  embodied 
in  the  action  of  the  apostles  going  out  into  the 
world  to  disciple  all  nations,  and  to  baptize 
them  "  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  2 

II 

The  disci-  There  cannot  be  any  question  as  to  the  state 

^that  Christ  ^^  mind  Avliich  this  action  implied.  It  was  the 
deep  conviction,  not  necessarily  reasoned  out 
and  formulated,  but  lying  at  the  very  root  of 
conduct,  that  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  was  the  un- 
veiling of  His  Father  God,  and  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  who  came  upon  the  disciples  was  the 
Spirit  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  part 
which  the  resurrection  played  in  the  clarifying 
and  confirming  of  this  conviction  was  impor- 
tant. But  we  must  not  misunderstand  the 
meaning  of  the  resurrection.  It  was  not  in 
any  sense  a  new  and  different  revelation  of 
God,  imagined  or  actually  received.  Whatever 
the  form  in  which  Jesus  appeared  to  the  dis- 
ciples during  the  forty  days  that  followed  His 
death,  He  was  recognized  as  the  same  Jesus  ; 
and    the    one    effect    of    His   appearance   was 

1  St.  Jolm  XX.  28.  2  gt.  Matt,  xxviii.  19. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  99 

simply  to  confirm  and  deepen  the  truth  of  what 
He  had  said  and  done  while  He  was  with  them. 
And  with  this  confirmation  the  truth  took  shape 
and  substance  as  an  active  and  enduring  power 
in  human  faith  and  life  and  worship. 

There  is  no  more  room  for  doubt  that  the 
early  Christians  saw  in  Christ  a  personal  un- 
veiling of  God,  than  that  the  friends  and  fol- 
lowers of  Abraham  Lincoln  regarded  him  as  a 
good  and  loyal  American  citizen  of  the  white 
race.^  And  even  if  we  could  find  no  direct  and 
definite  statement  of  either  of  these  views,  the 
evidence  that  men  held  them  could  be  clearly 
and  certainly  read  in  the  facts  of  history. 

Divine   honours  were  paid  to  Christ  in  the    The  early 
primitive    Church.     The  first  common   prayer  y^orsUpped 
of  the  disciples,  when  they  were  assembled  to   Christ. 
choose  an  apostle   in  the   place  of   the  traitor 
Judas,  was  addressed  to   Christ. ^     The   Chris- 
tians were  distinguished   both  from  the  Jews 
and  from  the  heathen  as  those  who  called  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.^     The  dying 
martyr  Stephen  showed  what  was  meant  by  this 
phrase  in  his  prayer,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit."^     Saul  of   Tarsus,  when   he  was   con- 

1  See  Appendix,  note  26. 

2  Acts  i.  24.     See  Alford  in  loc. 

3  Acts  ix.  21 ;  1  Cor.  i.  2.  *  Acts  vii.  59. 


too  The  Unveiling  of  the  Father 

vinced  by  that  strange  experience  on  the  road 
to  Damascus  that  Jesus  was  not  an  impostor, 
but  the  Christ,  at  once  addressed  Him  in 
prayer,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to 
do?"^  And  Ananias,  who  received  Saul  into 
the  Church,  asked  guidance  and  direction  from 
the  same  Lord.^  Peter  baptized  the  multi- 
tudes on  the  day  of  Pentecost  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ.^  John  wrote  of  prayer  to  the 
Son  of  God  as  a  familiar  ground  of  confidence 
in  Christian  experience.*  The  apostolic  bene- 
diction was :  "  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  be  with  you  all."^  The 
whole  current  of  adoration  and  devotion  in  the 
New  Testament  leads  up  naturally  and  without 
surprise  to  the  magnificent  words  of  St.  Paul, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  "  Christ,  who  is  over  all, 
God  blessed  forever."^ 

It  should  be  frankly  recognized  that  the  first 
Christians  assigned  a  certain  subordination  to 
the  Son  in  relation  to  the  Father ;  but  it  must 
be  admitted  with  equal  candour  that  this  sub- 
ordination was  not  in  any  sense  a  separation, 

1  Acts  ix.  6.  2  Acts  ix.  13.  ^  Acts  ii.  38. 

*  I  John  V.  13-15.  5  2  Cor.  xiii.  14. 

6  Rom.  ix.  5.  Cf.  Stevens,  Tlie  Pauline  Theology,  p.  201, 
for  a  succinct  statement  of  the  grounds  on  which  this  inter- 
pretation of  the  text  is  preferred. 


Tlce    Unveiling  of  the  Father  101 

and  that  it  really  implied  and  involved  a  unity 
between  them  which  made  it  possible  and  nat- 
ural and  inevitable  for  the  disciples  to  pay  an 
adoration  to  the  Son  with  the  Father,  which,  if 
it  had  been  offered  to,  or  claimed  by,  the  great- 
est and  best  of  the  apostles,  would  have  been 
instantly  repudiated  by  the  whole  Church  as 
not  only  absurd  but  radically  blasphemous. 

It  is  an  easy  matter  to  trace  the  worship  of 
Christ  in  the  later  development  of  Christianity. 
There  are  two  sources  of  evidence  :  the  Chris- 
tian hymns  and  liturgies  ;  the  heathen  attacks 
and  the  apologies  which  they  evoked. 

The  earliest  hymns  of  the  Greek  Church,  the  The  testi- 
"  Thanksgiving  at  lamplighting,"  "  Shepherd  of  hyj^^^s^ 
tender  youth,"  "  The  Bridegroom  cometh,"  the 
''  Hymn  to  Christ  after  Silence,"  celebrate  the 
praise  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Syriac  poetry,  through 
its  great  poet,  Ephrem  Syrus,  takes  up  the  same 
strain  of  adoration  to  the  Son  of  God,  and  its 
undying  music  may  still  be  heard  among  the 
mountains  of  Armenia  where  the  unspeakable 
Turk  is  exterminating  a  whole  race  for  loyalty 
to  the  name  of  Christ.  Latin  hymnody,  from 
its  earliest  origin  in  translations  from  the  Greek 
like  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis  and  the  Te  Beum^ 
through  its  splendid  unfolding  in  the  poetry 
of  Hilary  of  Poictiers,  Ambrose  of  Milan,  and 


102  The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 

Gregory  the  Great,  to  its  sweet  culmination  in 
the  two  Bernards,  him  of  Clairvaux  and  him  of 
Cluny,  repeats  the  same  burden  : 

"  O  Jesus,  Thou  the  glory  art 
Of  angel  worlds  above  ; 
Thy  name  is  music  to  my  heart, 
Enchanting  it  with  love." 

In   every  land   and   language,  in    German,    in 
French,    in    English,    the    most    ^^^'^cious    and 
potent  melodies  of  the  Church  are  fragrant  with 
the  name  of  Christ. 
The  testi-  Xhe  early  liturgies  bear  the  same  testimony 

early  litur-     ^^  ^he  pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the 
fi'ies-  doxologies  and  supplications  of  Christian  faith. 

The  Apostolical  Constitutions,^  the  liturgy  of 
St.  James,2  tlie  liturgy  of  St.  Mark,^  the  liturgy 
of  St.  Adgeus  and  St.  Maris,^  unquestionably 
preserve  the  spirit  of  the  early  Christian  wor- 
ship ;  and  they  all  are  witnesses  to  the  fact  that 
the  Christians  prayed  directly  to  Christ.  In- 
deed, it  lies  upon  the  very  surface  of  history 
that  the  growth  of  Christianity,  as  manifested 

1  Apost.  Const.,  Book  VIII.,  chap,  vii, 

2  The   Divine    Liturgy   of  St.   James,   ill. :    "  Sovereign 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  O  Word  of  God,"  etc. 

3  The  Divine  Liturgy  of  the  Holy  Apostle  and  Evangelist 
Mark,  v.,  xxii.,  etc. 

*  Liturgy  of  the  Blessed  Apostles,  composed  by  St.  Adoius 
and  St.  Maris,  xiv. 


The   Unveiling  of  the  Father-  103 

in  a  spreading  worship,  was  not  simply  the  in- 
crease of  those  who  were  willing  to  adore  God 
on  the  authority  of  Christ.  It  Avas  distinctly 
and  essentially  the  diffusion  of  an  iuAvard  force 
which  impelled  men  to  blend  the  name  of  Christ 
with  the  name  of  God  in  their  prayers,  and  to 
worship  the  Son  with  the  Father.  The  beauti- 
ful Prayer  of  St.  Chrysostom,  which  closes  the 
Litany  and  the  Morning  and  Evening  Prayers 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  is  addressed 
to  Christ,  "  who  dost  promise  that  when  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  Thy  name.  Thou 
wilt  grant  their  requests."^  There  is  not  in 
the  world  to-day  a  single  great  liturgy,  Greek, 
Roman,  Armenian,  French,  German,  Scotch,  or 
English,  which  does  not  contain  ascriptions  of 
divine  glory,  and  petitions  for  divine  grace, 
addressed  to  Jesus  Christ. 

Heathen  writers  of  very  early  date  assure  us  The  testi- 
that  this  was  the  practice  of  Christians  from  j^Qf^then  ^^ 
the  beginning.  The  younger  Pliny  reported 
to  the  Emperor  Trajan  that  the  people  called 
Christians  were  accustomed  to  assemble  before 
daybreak  and  "sing  a  hymn  of  praise  respon- 
sively  to  Christ,  as  it  were  to  God."^     In  the 

1  St.  Matt,  xviii.  20. 

2  A.D.  112.  See  the  chapter  on  "Pliny's  Report  and 
Trajan's  Rescript "  in  Ramsay,  The  Church  in  the  Boman 
Empire  (New  York,  Putnam,  1893),  pp.  196  ff. 


Christians 
despised  for 
worshipping 


104  The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 

public  trials  that  followed  there  was  never  any 
denial  of  this  statement.  It  was  admitted  alike 
by  those  who  apostatized  under  the  pressure  of 
persecution  and  by  those  who  remained  faithful 
to  the  name  of  Christ.  The  Emperor  Hadrian 
wrote  to  Servian  that  of  the  population  of  Alex- 
andria "  some  worshipped  Serapis,  and  others 
Christ."  Lucian,  the  pagan  satirist,  says  in 
his  biography  of  Peregrinus  Proteus  :  "  The 
Christians  are  still  worshipping  that  great  man 
who  was  crucified  in  Palestine."^ 

In  all  the  apologies  for  the  Christian  religion 
which  were  put  forth  during  the  persecutions 
Christ.  under  Hadrian,  and  his   successors  Antoninus 

Pius  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  there  was  no  at- 
tempt to  refute  the  universal  charge  that  the 
Christians  worshipped  Christ. ^  As  if  to  con- 
firm this  evidence  by  one  of  those  indications 
which  are  all  the  more  significant  because  they 
are  so  slight  and  so  clearly  unpremeditated, 
there  still  exists  a  rude  caricature,  scratched 
by  some  careless  hand  upon  the  walls  of  the 

1  Luciani  Samosatensis  Opera.  (Ed.  Leipsic,  1829),  Tomiis 
iv.,  p.  17o. 

2  The  First  Apology  of  Justin  Martyr.,  chap.  xiii.  :  "  Our 
teaclier  of  these  things  is  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  we  reason- 
ably worship  Him,  having  learned  that  He  is  the  Son  of  the 
true  God  Himself,  and  holding  Him  in  the  second  place,  and 
the  prophetic  Spirit  in  the  third,  we  will  prove." 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  105 

Palatine  Palace  in  Rome  not  later  than  the 
beginning  of  the  third  century,  representing  a 
human  figure  with  an  ass's  head  hanging  upon 
a  cross,  while  a  man  stands  before  it  in  the 
attitude  of  worship.  Underneath  is  this  ill- 
spelled  inscription,  — 

"  Alexamenos  adore  his  God."  ^ 
Thus  the  songs  and  prayers  of  believers,  the 
accusations  of  persecutors,  the  sneers  of  scep- 
tics, and  the  coarse  jests  of  mockers  all  join 
in  proving  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  primitive 
Christians  paid  divine  honour  to  the  Lord 
Jesus.  I  do  not  see  how  any  man  can  be  in 
touch  with  Christianity  as  a  living  form  of 
worship  in  the  world,  unless  he  knows  the 
reality  and  appreciates  the  force  of  this  un- 
questionable fact. 

Ill 

Nor  will  it  be  possible  to  understand  the 
intellectual  and  moral  teachings  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  as  they  are  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament,  unless  we  put  ourselves  at  the  focal 
point  from  which,  as  a  matter  of  history,  these 
teachings  were   first    conceived   and   then   un- 

1  Das  Spott- Crucifix  der  Bomischon  Kaiser  FaV'tste,  Fer- 
dinand Becker  (Gera,  1876).  Das  Spott-Grucifix  vom  Pala- 
tini Franz  Xaver  Kraus  (Freiburg-,  1872). 


Christ  loas 
a  neiv 
theology. 


106  The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 

folded.  This  point  was  the  vision  of  an  un- 
veiling of  the  being  and  mind  of  God  in 
Christ.  1  It  was  not  merely  that  Jesns  said 
certain  things  about  God  which  men  had  not 
known,  or  had  forgotten.  It  was  that  they 
saw  in  the  coming  of  Christ  a  personal  revela- 
tion of  the  Divine  Being.  And  this  revelation 
touched  and  transformed  every  possible  sphere 
of  thought  and  feeling  in  regard  to  the  prob- 
lems of  religion.  The  personality  of  God  was 
made  distinct  and  luminous,  not  only  by  the 
recognition  of  an  eternal  Fatherhood  in  His 
nature,  but  by  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
His  glory  shining  in  the  face  of  a  person. ^ 
The  righteousness  of  God  was  disclosed  in  a 
new  aspect  by  the  thought  that  He  had  sent 
His  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and 
for  sin  to  condemn  sin  in  the  flesh.^  The  good- 
ness of  God  was  confirmed  and  made  sufficient 
for  all  possible  human  needs  by  the  conviction 
that  He  who  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  freely 
delivered  Him  up  for  us  all,  would  also  with 
Him  freely  give  us  all  things.*  The  saving 
will  and  power  of  God  were  apprehended 
through  the  vision  of  Him  in  Clirist  reconcil- 
ing the  world   to    Himself.^     The  everlasting 

1  See  Appendix,  note  27.  ^  2  Cor.  iv.  6. 

3  Rom.  viii.  o.  *  Kom.  viii.  32.  ^  2  Cor.  v.  19. 


The    Unveiliiig  of  the  Father  107 

and  inseparable  love  of  God  became  the  sure 
ground  of  hope  only  when  it  was  seen  em- 
bodied in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.^  The  true 
meaning  of  filial  obedience  to  God  and  of 
union  with  God  was  interpreted  in  the  light 
of  conformity  to  the  image  of  His  Son.-  And 
the  immense  significance  of  immortality  was 
comprehended  in  the  possession  of  a  life  hid 
with  Christ  in  God.^ 

Now  the  window  through  which  men  caught  Godivas 
sight  of  these  truths  was,  and  could  have  been,  (j^^^^igf^ 
nothing  else  than  faith  in  a  real  incarnation 
of  God  in  Christ.  The  personal,  moral,  sym- 
pathetic view  of  God  which  distinguished  the 
early  Church  was  seen  only  through  that  open- 
ing.^ She  saw  the  Divine  Being  beaming  with 
a  new  radiance,  she  saw  the  wide  landscape  of 
human  duty  and  destiny  illuminated  and  trans- 
figured, she  saw  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth, 
when  she  saw  in  Christ  all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  dwelling  bodily.^     And  it  was  in  the 

1  Rom.  viii.  39.  2  Rom.  viii.  29.  ^  Col.  iii.  3. 

*  First  Epistle  of  St.  Clement,  chap,  xxxvi.  :  "By  Him 
we  look  up  to  tlie  heights  of  heaven.  By  Him  we  beliold, 
as  in  a  glass,  His  immaculate  and  most  excellent  visage.  By 
Him  are  the  eyes  of  our  heart  opened.  By  Him  our  foolish 
and  darkened  understanding  blossoms  up  anew  towards  the 
light."    Bp.  Lightfoot's  Edition.     (Macmillan,  1890.) 

^  See  appendix,  note  28. 


Christian 
doctrine 
grew  around 


108  The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 

strength  and  enthusiasm  of  this  vision,  that  she 
concentrated  all  her  moral  and  intellectual  en- 
ergies on  the  one  point  of  keeping  that  window 
open,  and  maintaining  against  direct  assault 
and  secret  dissolution  the  real  and  personal 
Deity  of  Christ. 

IV 

I  am  careful  to  put   the    statement  in  this 
form  because  I  believe  that  it  alone  corresponds 
the  Deity  of   with  the  facts,  and  because  it  is  only  by  get- 

(Jhrist.  .  .     -.      .  ,  .  .    .  , 

tmg  our  mnids  nito  this  position  that  we  can 
hope  to  understand  the  course,  the  meaning, 
and  the  force  of  Christian  doctrme.  The  early 
Christians  looked  at  God  through  Christ :  they 
did  not  look  at  Christ  through  a  preconceived 
idea  and  a  logical  definition  of  God.  The  true 
development  of  theology,  to  put  the  matter 
plainly,  was  not  abstract,  it  was  personal 
and  practical.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity 
came  into  being  to  meet  an  imperious  neces- 
sity.^ That  necessity  was  the  defence  of  the 
actual  worship  of  Christ,  the  actual  trust  in 
Christ  as  the  Unveiler  of  the  Father,  which 
already  existed  at  the  heart  of  Christianity. 
It  was  recognized  instinctively  that  the  loss 
of  tliis  trust,  the  silencing  of  this  worship, 
1  See  Appendix,  note  29. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  109 

meant  the  death  of  Christianity  by  heart-fail- 
ure. Every  speculation  which  threatened  this 
result,  every  theory  of  human  nature  or  of 
divine  nature  which  seemed  to  sejjarate  the 
personality  of  Christ  from  the  personality  of 
God,  was  regarded  by  the  Church  as  dangerous 
and  hostile.  Every  attempted  statement  of 
theological  dogma  which  appeared  to  obscure 
or  to  imperil  the  reality  and  the  eternal  valid- 
ity of  the  unveiling  of  the  Father  in  the  Son, 
was  resented,  and  a  counter  statement  of  theo- 
logical dogma  was  framed  to  meet  it.  This 
was  the  intellectual  conflict  of  Christianity  in 
the  first  centuries  :  a  struggle  for  life  centring 
about  the  actual  Deity  of  Christ. 

As  we    trace   the   progress  of   this  conflict,    The  conflict 

.,..,.,  ,  with  heresy 

its   Vital   importance  emerges  more   and   more 

clearly.  Often,  I  suppose,  we  cannot  help  feel- 
ing a  sense  of  sympathy  with  the  earnest  pur- 
pose and  the  personal  character  of  those  men 
who  were  called  heretics.  Often  we  are  con- 
scious of  a  certain  distrust  for  the  meta- 
physical and  exegetical  arguments,  and  of  a 
grave  repugnance  for  the  physical  and  politi- 
cal methods,  which  were  used  by  the  orthodox 
to  enforce  their  definitions.  Athanasius  was 
not  an  altogether  lovely  person.  Some  of  the 
early  Church  Councils  Avere  almost  as   disor- 


110 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 


The  Palla- 
dium of 
Christian- 
ity. 


derly  and  as  cruel  as  some  of  tlie  regiments 
that  fought  in  the  war  to  defend  the  American 
Union  and  free  the  slave.  But  the  question  is 
not  one  of  the  manner  of  defence  or  attack.  It 
is  a  question  of  the  reality  and  significance  of 
the  cause  attacked  and  defended.  And  here  we 
see  that  Athanasius  with  all  his  faults  was  on 
the  right  side,  and  Arius  with  all  his  virtues 
was  on  the  wrong  side.  Through  all  the  con- 
fusion of  metaphysical  dispute  about  the  exact 
meaning  of  substance  and  subsistence,  nature 
and  personality,  ideal  existence  and  real  exist- 
ence,—  terms  which,  as  I  conceive  them,  must 
change  their  significance  as  the  methods  of 
human  philosophy  change,  and  must  always 
represent  imperfectly  a  mystery  which  is  for 
us  unsearchable  and  indefinable,  —  through  all 
this  confusion  one  fact  shines  out  clear  and  dis- 
tinct. The  unveiling  of  the  Father  in  Christ 
was,  and  continued  to  be,  and  still  is,  the 
Palladium  of  Christianity.  All  who  have  sur- 
rendered it,  for  whatever  reason,  have  been 
dispersed  and  scattered.  All  who  have  de- 
fended it,  in  whatever  method,  have  been  held 
fast  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Son  of  God.^ 


Eph.  iv.  13. 


The  doc- 
trine of  the 
Trinity  con 


The   Unveiling  of  the  Father  111 

This  point  of  view  must  condition  the  atti- 
tude of  our  minds  towards  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity.     No  Christian  man  can  be  hostile  or  stmcted  to 

.  defend  t/ie 

indifferent  to  it  when  he  remembers  its  history,  jj^ny  ^j 
It  may  liave  been  too  much  elaborated  by  minds  C*^*^^*^- 
over-curious  in  metaphysical  distinctions.  It 
may  have  been  put  in  a  position  of  undue  pre- 
eminence by  theologians  whose  energies  were 
all  absorbed  in  its  construction  and  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  work  of  their  own  reason  in 
the  service  of  Christianity.  But  in  spite  of  all 
excesses  and  errors,  it  stands  as  an  enduring 
monument  of  the  loyalty  of  the  faith  to  its  cen- 
tral conviction.  In  all  its  forms,  from  the 
sharply  tri-personal  Trinity  of  Athanasius,  to 
the  essentially  tri-modal  Trinity  of  Augustine, 
the  great  service  which  it  has  rendered  is  not 
abstract  nor  philosophical.  It  is  practical. 
It  has  protected  the  conviction  that  the  real 
nature  of  God  is  revealed  in  Christ ;  it  has  jus- 
tified the  consciousness  that  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
animating  the  Christian  life,  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  ;  it  has  preserved  the  sense  of  real  com- 
munion with  God  in  Christ  which  is  the  nervo 
of    Christian  worship. 

And  yet  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  not  the 
gospel,  nor  is  it  the  foundation  of  the  gospel. 
It  cannot  be  preached  as  a  saving  message  to  the 


112 


The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 


The  doc-  souls  of  men,  except  in  that  form  in  which  we  find 
Trinihi  ^  ^^  ^^^  Phillips  Brooks'  noble  Sermon  for  Trinity 
subordinate  Sunday^  and  Dr.  George  A.  Gordon's  powerful 
pel.  ^  ^^^'  ^^iscourse  on  The  Trinity  the  Ground  of  Humanity. 
It  is  the  effort  to  apprehend  a  relation  of  the 
Being  of  God  to  the  conscious  experience  of 
man ;  a  truth  exhibited  in  the  course  of  revela- 
tion and  recognized  in  its  mysterious  unfolding 
both  before  and  after  all  efforts  to  symbolize 
it  in  theological  language ;  in  brief,  it  is  the 
reaching  out  of  the  human  mind,  conscious  of 
its  limitations  and  conditions,  towards  a  vision 
and  worship  of  the  Father  in  the  Son  through 
the  Spirit.  The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  not 
the  Palladium.  It  is  the  defence.  I  will  con- 
fess that  in  its  broad  outlines  it  seems  to  me 
necessary  and  satisfactory.  I  will  confess  that 
no  other  answer  to  the  profound  questions 
which  inevitably  arise  out  of  the  contact  be- 
tween the  idea  of  God,  and  the  experience  of 
real  life  in  all  its  manifoldness,  appears  to  me 
half  so  reasonable  or  complete  as  that  which 
asserts  that  '•'-  the  various  fundamental  forms  of 
society  on  the  earth,  the  essential  relationships 
of  humanity,  have  their  Archetype,  their  Eter- 
nal Pattern  and  Causal  Source,  in  the  nature  of 
the  Infinite."^  I  will  confess  that  the  form  of 
1  Gordon,  The  Christ  of  To-day,  p.  101. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father'  113 

this  answer  wliicli  contemplates  tlie  existence 
of  these  eternal  relationships  in  the  Divine 
nature  as  most  clearly  and  positively  personal, 
is  more  conclusive  to  my  mind  than  any  other. 
But  if  other  men  think  otherwise  on  this  point, 
we  are  not  therefore  divided  from  each  other, 
or  from  the  Christian  faith.  The  question  is 
one  of  metaphysics.  It  is  not  a  question  of  re- 
ligion. All  modes  of  defining  the  Trinity  as  a 
doctrine  must  be  kept  subordinate  to  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  exists.  All  attempts  to  ex- 
press it  are  valuable  only  in  so  far  as  they  help 
us  to  keep  in  view  the  unveiling  of  the  Divine 
nature  which  centres  in  Him  Avho  was  mani- 
fested in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  Spirit,  seen 
of  angels,  preached  among  the  nations,  believed 
on  in  the  world,  received  up  in  glory.  ^ 


Now  wherein  is  a  message  like  this,  the  gos-   The 
pel  of  a  personal  unveiling  of  God  in  the  per- 


of  the 
Incaimation 


son   of    Christ,    adapted   to   the   needs   of   the  adapted  to 
present  age?  ^^"'^  «^^- 

1.    It  seems  to  me  first  of  all  that  the  course 
of  modern  thought  has  prepared  the  way  for  it 
by  destroying  the  a  priori  objections  to  the  In- 
1  1  Tim.  iii.  16. 


114  The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 

Philosophy     carnation.     Shallow  agnosticism  makes  two  as- 

has  cleared  .  ,  .   ,  ^        t    ^  x, 

the  way  for    sumptions  whicli  are  contraciictory.      It  assumes 
»^-  that  man  is  unable  to  attain  to  the  knoAvlecIge 

of  God  ;  and  that  it  is  impossible  for  God  to 
reveal  Himself  to  man.  But  if  we  cannot 
knoAv  Him,  how  can  we  know  that  He  cannot 
reveal  Himself?  This  Avould  be  in  effect  the 
most  intimate  kind  of  knowledge.  To  take  it 
for  granted  that  an  Incarnation  of  God  is  im- 
possible or  incredible  is  to  profess  a  most  per- 
fect and  exclusive  understanding  of  the  Divine 
nature.  "At  one  time,"  says  Mr.  Romanes, 
"  it  seemed  to  me  impossible  that  any  proposi- 
tion, verbally  intelligible  as  such,  could  be 
more  violently  absurd  than  that  of  the  Incarna- 
tion. Now  I  see  that  this  standpoint  is  wholly 
irrational.  .  .  .  '  But  the  Incarnation  is  op- 
posed to  common  sense.'  No  doubt :  utterly 
so  ;  but  so  it  ought  to  be  if  true.  Common 
sense  is  merely  a  rough  register  of  common 
experience.  But  the  Incarnation,  if  it  ever 
took  place,  whatever  else  it  may  have  been, 
was  not  a  common  event.  'But  it  is  deroga- 
tory to  God  to  become  man.'  How  do  you 
know?  Besides,  Christ  was  not  an  ordinary 
man.  Both  negative  criticism  and  the  positive 
effects  of  His  life  prove  this  ;  while  if  we  for  a 
moment  adopt  the  Christian  point  of  view  for 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  115 

the  sake  of  argument,  tlie  wliole  raisoji  d'etre 
of  mankind  is  bound  up  in  Him.  Lastly,  there 
are  considerations  per  contra^  rendering  an  In- 
carnation antecedently  probable."^ 

2.  Now  these  considerations  to  which  Ro- 
manes alludes  are  not  foreign  to  the  intellect- 
ual atmospliere  of  our  age ;  tliey  are  native  to 
it ;  they  are  in  fact  the  offspring  of  the  times, 
born  of  tlie  spirit  Avhich  now  leads  the  best 
thoughts  of  men. 

The  whole  doctrine  of  development,  as  it  is  Evolution 
conceived  by  the  deepest  and  clearest  minds,  ^o^oarcZsi; 
looks  forward  to  the  discovery  of  an  Incarna- 
tion which  shall  be  at  once  the  crown  and  the 
completion  of  the  process  of  natural  evolution. 
If  nature  is  an  orderly  and  progressive  mani- 
festation of  an  Unseen  Power ;  if  each  succes- 
sive step  in  this  manifestation  realizes  and 
exhibits  something  higher  and  more  perfect, 
to  which  all  that  has  gone  before  has  pointed, 
and  in  which  the  potentialities  of  all  previous 
developments  are  not  only  summed  up,  but 
raised  to  a  new  power ;  if  the  mechanical  struct- 
ure of  inorganic  substances  contains  a  proph- 
ecy (only  to  be  interpreted  after  the  event)  of 
organic  life,  and  organic  life  is  a  basis  for  in- 
stinct and  the  elementary  processes  of  intellect, 
1  Thoughts  on.  Beligion,  p.  186. 


116 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father 


Personality 
the  final 
revelation. 


and  the  rude  forms  of  thought  and  feeling  in 
the  lower  animals  foreshadow  the  unfolding  of 
reflective  reason  and  moral  consciousness  in 
man,  —  then  surely  this  reflective  reason  and 
this  moral  consciousness,  in  themselves  con- 
fessedly imperfect,  must  be  only  the  founda- 
tion for  a  fuller  and  more  i^erfect  manifestation 
of  that  Unseen  Power  out  of  whose  depths 
all  preceding  manifestations  have  come  forth. 
And  if  the  universal  verdict  of  human  science 
and  philosophy  is  correct  in  assuming  that  the 
lower  must  precede  the  higher,  and  that  or- 
ganic life  is  above  inorganic  life,  and  that  rea- 
son is  above  instinct,  and  that  virtue  is  above 
automatic  action,  then  it  is  to  be  exj)ected  that 
the  complete  manifestation  of  that  Unseen 
Power  which  makes  for  Reason  and  Righteous- 
ness will  neither  be  omitted  nor  intruded  before 
its  time.  It  cannot  come  too  soon,  without  vi- 
olating the  order  of  evolution.  It  cannot  fail 
to  come,  without  destroying  the  significance  of 
evolution. 

But  in  what  form  can  it  come  except  in  one 
which  at  once  sums  up  all  that  has  gone  before 
it,  and  advances  to  a  new  level  ?  If  the  uni- 
verse contains  an  unveiling  of  the  might,  and 
wisdom,  and  reasonableness,  and  righteousness, 
of  its  Primal  Cause,  then  certainly  it  must  con- 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Fathe?'  117 

tain  at  last  an  unveiling  of  His  personality. 
This  is  the  only  thing  that  remains  to  be 
added.  This  is  the  only  thing  that  embraces 
all  the  rest  and  raises  it  to  a  new  power.  The 
highest  category  known  to  our  minds  is  that 
of  self-conscious  life.  Without  the  conception 
of  a  personal  God,  man's  view  of  the  universe 
must  remain  forever  incomplete,  incoherent, 
and  unreasonable.  Without  the  revelation  of 
a  j)ersonal  God,  the  process  of  evolution  as  the 
unfolding  of  the  real  secret  of  the  universe 
must  remain  unfinished  and  futile.  Philosophy 
as  well  as  religion  pushes  us  forward  to  this 
conclusion.  Personality  is  the  ultimate  reality. 
Personality  must  be  the  final  revelation.  But 
a  person  can  be  unveiled  only  in  a  personal 
form.  Therefore  all  the  presumptions  of  rea- 
son are  in  favour  of  an  Incarnation  of  the 
Deity,  not  outside  of  nature,  but  in  nature,  to 
consummate  and  crown  that  visible  evolution 
whereby  the  invisible  things  of  Him  from  the 
creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen.^  And 
all  the  processes  of  intelligence  are  satisfied, 
and  rest  and  repose  in  the  conviction  that 
the  Word,  which  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God  and  which  was  God  and  by  whom  all 
things  were  made,  finally  became  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us,  revealing  His  glory,  the  glory 
1  See  Appendix,  note  30. 


118 


The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 


The  gospel 
of  the 

Incarnation 
is  histori- 
cally con- 
sistent. 


as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth.^ 

3.  Moreover,  this  view  of  Christ  is  adapted 
to  the  present  age  because  it  is  historically  con- 
sistent. We  have  seen  that  it  underlies  the 
very  existence  and  growth  of  the  Christian 
Church.  The  testimony  of  eighteen  centuries 
to  the  impossibility  of  explaining  the  person- 
ality of  Christ  on  humanitarian  grounds  is  in 
itself  an  evidence  of  His  divinity. 

Lincoln  was  right  when  he  said  :  "  You  can 
fool  some  of  the  people  all  of  the  time,  and  all 
of  the  people  some  of  the  time,  but  you  can- 
not fool  all  of  the  people  all  of  the  time."  A 
thousand  attempts  to  account  for  the  life  of 
Christ  without  admitting  His  divinity  have 
been  made.  Not  one  of  them  has  succeeded 
in  winning  the  assent  and  approbation  of  any 
great  mass  of  men  for  any  great  length  of 
time.  They  have  hardly  survived  the  lives  of 
those  who  have  invented  them.  Each  new 
naturalistic  theory  of  Christ  has  discredited 
and  demolished  its  predecessors.  And  if  any 
one  of  them  is  alive  and  finds  credence  to-day, 
it  is  only  because  it  is  the  latest,  and  it  is  but 


1  See  Lyman  Abbott,  The  Evolution  of  Christianity 
(Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  189^),  "Christ  is  not  the  prod- 
uct of  evolution,  but  the  producer,"  pp.  240-242. 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  119 

waiting  for  its  successor  (as  the  theory  of 
Socinus  waited  for  the  theory  of  Strauss,  and 
the  theory  of  Strauss  for  the  theory  of  Renan) 
to  be  its  judge  and  destroyer.  / 

Meantime  historic  Christianity,  which  be-  The  imprcj- 
hokls  God  incarnate  in  Christ,  stands  as  a  rock  of  ChHs- 
around  which  the  tides  of  opinion  ebb  and  flow,  tianity. 
The  Church  has  changed  in  some  things,  but 
not  in  this.  It  has  modified,  enlarged,  dimin- 
ished, or  abandoned  some  articles  of  faith,  but 
not  this.  If  it  be  an  error,  it  is  such  an  error 
as  the  world  has  never  seen  anywhere  else ; 
for  it  has  not  only  stood  firm  through  the 
fiercest  and  most  persistent  storm  of  criticism 
that  has  ever  been  directed  against  any  human 
opinion,  but  it  has  also  been  the  foundation  of 
the  strongest  and  saintliest  lives  that  humanity 
has  ever  known.  If  it  be  a  truth,  it  must  be 
for  every  Christian  preacher  the  central  truth. 
For  it  is  certain  that  this  age  of  ours,  with 
its  ruthless  critical  spirit,  with  its  keen  histori- 
cal sense,  will  never  respect  the  intelligence, 
though  it  may  acknowledge  the  good  inten- 
tions, of  a  man  who  professes  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  Cliristianity  without  proclaiming,  as 
the  core  of  his  message,  the  Divine  Christ. 

4.    And  this  gospel  meets  the  need   of  our 
times  because  it  is  the  satisfaction  of  humanity. 


The  incar- 
nation 
satisfies  the 
human 
heart. 


120  The  Unveiling  of  the  Father 

More  urgent  and  painful  even  than  the  ques- 
tions of  the  intellect  in  regard  to  the  being  and 
nature  of  God,  are  the  misgivings  of  the  heart 
in  regard  to  His  relations  to  us.  If  He  is  that 
remote  and  inaccessible  Sovereign 

"  Who  sees  with  equal  eyes,  as  Lord  of  all, 
A  hero  perish  or  a  sparrow  fall," 

what  possible  answer  can  we  find  in  Him  to 
the  longings  and  desires  of  our  souls  for  a 
Divine  love  ?  what  possible  support  can  we  find 
in  Him  for  our  struggles  against  outward 
temptation  and  indwelling  evil  ?  what  possible 
sympathy  can  we  find  in  Him  for  our  hopes 
and  aspirations  and  upward  strivings,  out  of 
the  quicksands  of  heredity  and  environment, 
towards  liberty  and  light  ?  The  religion  of 
the  Incarnation  is  the  only  one  that  brings  us 
near  to  Him,  assures  us  of  our  kinship  with 
Him,  and  of  His  infinite,  practical,  helpful  love 
for  us.  This  faith  alone  bridges  the  chasm 
that  divides  the  eternal  self-existent  Spirit 
from  our  finite,  despondent,  earthbound  souls. 
This  faith  alone  gives  us  any  knowledge  of  the 
things  that  we  most  need  to  know  about  Him. 
Deism  is  like  a  message  written  in  an  inscruta- 
ble hieroglyph  which  conveys  no  clear  meaning 
to  the  mind.  Theism  is  like  a  message  which 
is  intelligible  to  the  intellect,  but  unsatisfac- 


The    Unveiling  of  the  Father  121 

tory  to  tlie  heart,  because  it  has  no  personal 
address  and  no  signature.  Christianity  is  a  per- 
sonal message,  signed  by  the  hand  of  a  Father, 
and  conveyed  to  us  by  the  hand  of  the  Son.^ 

The  comparison  is  imperfect.  It  falls  far 
short  of  the  truth.  In  Christianity  the  mes- 
senger is  the  message.  The  love  which  sent 
and  the  love  which  delivered  it  are  the  same. 
Christ  is  Immanuel,  God  with  us.  The  gospel 
of  the  Incarnation  does  not  profess  to  remove 
all  intellectual  perplexities  in  regard  to  the 
existence  of  God  and  our  own  souls.  It  pro- 
fesses simply  to  establish  such  a  conscious  re- 
lation between  our  souls  and  God  that  our 
ethical  needs  shall  be  satisfied  at  once ;  and 
thus  it  shall  be  infinitely  easier,  either  to  dis- 
solve, or  to  endure,  our  intellectual  perplexi- 
ties. This  relation  is  possible  only  in  Christ. 
And  it  is  possible  in  Him  only  when  we  receive 
Him  as  the  unveiling  of  the  Father.  Tliis  re- 
quires an  act  of  faith.  But  it  is  a  faith  which 
is  simpler  in  its  form,  more  natural  in  its 
method,  and  more  profound  in  its  spiritual  re- 
sults than  any  other.  For  in  the  last  analysis 
it  is  just  an  act  of  personal  confidence  in  a 
person.  And  this  does  not  demand  perfect 
knowledge,  but  absolute  trust. 
1  See  Appendix,  note  31. 


Christ  is 
God  with 
us. 


122  The   Unveiling  of  the  Father 

The  Deity  of       To  imagine  that  we  can  adapt  our  preaching 

Christ  is  the    .      ,-,  .  j'     i       i  j_    i  i        •  t 

strength  of  ^^  ^^^^^  ^S®  ^^  cloubt  by  weakennig,  concealing, 
our  gospel,  or  abandoning  the  truth  of  the  Deity  of  Christ 
is  to  mistake  the  great  need  of  our  times.  It 
is  to  seek  to  commend  our  gospel  by  taking 
away  from  it  the  chief  thing  that  men  really 
want,  —  an  assurance  of  sympathy  and  kinship 
with  God.  "  One  of  the  great  marks  of  the 
youth  of  to-day,"  says  Ernest  Lavisse,  —  "I 
speak  of  thinking  youth,  —  is  a  longing  for  the 
Divine."  1  This  longing  is  to  be  met  not  by 
slighting,  but  by  emphasizing,  not  by  clouding, 
but  by  clarifying,  not  by  withdrawing,  but  by 
advancing,  the  true  Deity  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Let  us  take  up  the  words  of  the  ancient 
creed  :  "  We  believe  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christy 
the  Son  of  God^  only -begotten  of  the  Father^  that 
is  of  the  substa7ice  of  the  Father,  God  of  God, 
Light  of  Light,  very  God  of  God,  begotten,  not 
made,  being  of  one  substance  with  the  Father: 
by  Whom  all  things  were  made  which  are  in 
heaven  and  earth:  Who,  for  us  men  and  for  our 
salvation,  came  doiV7i,  and  was  incarnate,  and  was 
made  man,  and  suffered,  and  rose  the  third  day, 
and  ascended  into  the  heavens,  and  shall  come 
to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.'''  ^ 

1  Ernest  Lavisse,  La  Generation  de  1890. 

2  Symbolum  Nicoenum,  The  Creeds  of  Christendom.,  Vol. 
ii.  (Harpers,  1882). 


IV 

THE  HUMAN  LIFE   OF  GOD 


"  Behold  Him  now  where  He  comes ! 

Not  the  Christ  of  our  subtle  creeds, 

But  the  light  of  our  hearts,  of  our  homes, 

Of  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  needs ; 

The  brother  of  want  and  blame, 

The  lover  of  women  and  men. 

With  a  love  that  puts  to  shame 

All  passions  of  mortal  ken. 

****** 
"  Ah  no,  thou  life  of  the  heart. 

Never  shalt  thou  depart ! 

Not  till  the  leaven  of  God 

Shall  lighten  each  human  clod; 

Not  till  the  world  shall  climb 

To  thy  height  serene,  sublime, 

Shall  the  Christ  who  enters  our  door 

Pass  to  return  no  more." 

—  Richard  Watson  Gilder, 

The  Passing  of  Christ. 


w 

THE   HUMAN   LIFE    OF   GOD 
Nearly   fifty  years   ago,  Horace    Bushnell,  ^ff^^at 

•      1      f  1       •    •  1       •      truth  in 

the  most  mystical  oi  logicians,  or  the  most  logi-  eclipse. 
cal  of  mystics,  delivered  before  Yale  University 
a  magnificent  discourse  upon  The  Divinity  of 
Christ.  In  that  fine  work  of  genius,  wrought 
out  of  darkness  and  light,  mystery  and  clear- 
ness, like  an  intricate  carving  of  ebony  and 
gold,  I  find  these  words:  "Christ  is  in  such 
a  sense  God,  or  God  manifested,  that  the  un- 
known term  of  His  nature,  that  which  we  are 
most  in  doubt  of,  and  about  which  we  are  least 
capable  of  any  positive  affirmation,  is  the 
human."  ^ 

This  sentence,  it  seems  to  me,  is  not  of  light, 
but  of  darkness.  It  does  not  represent  that 
illuminating  and  harmonious  kind  of  truth 
which  comes  directly  from  the  divine  revelation 
of  Christ.     It  belongs  rather  to  that  obscured 

1  Horace  Bushnell,  God  in  Christ  (New  York,  Scribners, 
1887),  p.  123. 

125 


126 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod 


Theology 
has  lost 
sight  of 
Christ's 
humanitxj. 


and  discordant  manner  of  presenting  truth 
which  is  the  consequence  of  studying  it  too 
much  at  second-hand  and  too  little  at  first- 
hand, too  much  in  the  speculations  and  reason- 
ings of  men  and  too  little  in  the  facts  of  life 
wherein  it  was  first  manifested.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  this  sentence  as  a  statement  of 
the  result  of  dogmatic  theology,  —  and  in  this 
sense  I,  for  one,  do  not  question  its  accuracy, 
— when  we  consider  its  plain  meaning  as  an 
expression  of  Christian  experience  and  faith, 
one  thing  is  clear  :  It  is  utterly  out  of  touch 
with  the  experience  and  faith  of  the  first  dis- 
ciples. It  is  in  sharp  and  striking  discord 
with  the  consciousness  of  the  primitive  Church. 
For  if  there  is  anything  in  regard  to  which  the 
New  Testament  makes  positive  and  undoubting 
affirmation,  it  is  the  complete,  genuine,  and 
veritable  humanity  of  Christ.  If  there  is  any 
fact  which  stands  out  luminous  and  distinct 
in  the  experience  of  the  early  Christians,  it  is 
that  tliey  saw  in  Christ,  not  merely  a  myste- 
rious manifestation  of  the  Divine  in  a  form  cal- 
culated to  beget  new  doubts,  and  under  con- 
ditions which  must  remain  inscrutable  and 
incomprehensible,  but  something  utterly  differ- 
ent. They  saw  the  mystery  reduced  to  terms 
of   simplicity,    the   revelation    levelled   to   the 


The  Human  Life  of  G-od  127 

direct  apprehension  of  man,  the  unveiling  of 
the  Father  under  conditions  which  were  so 
familiar  that  they  dissolved  doubts  and  diffi- 
culties. They  saw  in  Christ  the  human  life 
of  God. 

The  object  of   this  lecture  is,  first,  to  trace  How  shall 

,     .    r,        .  T  .  1  •   1       i_  1  •  •  £    the  vision  ha 

very  briefly  the  way  m  which  this  view  o±  restored? 
Christ  has  been  beclouded  so  that  His  human- 
ity has  appeared  doubtful  and  less  capable  of 
positive  affirmation ;  second,  to  show  how  the 
primitive  view  of  His  person  and  life  may  be, 
and  in  the  history  of  Christian  faith  often  has 
been,  recovered  and  restored  to  its  pristine 
brilliancy  and  beauty ;  and  third,  to  try  to 
express,  though  but  imperfectly,  the  meaning 
and  importance  of  this  view  for  the  present 
age. 


Definition  is   dangerous.     Necessary  it  may  Obscuration 
be  ;  useful  it  undoubtedly  is  ;  but  our  recogni-     yj^^^^  "* 
tion  of   these  qualities  ought  not  to  make  us 
forget  or  deny  the  peril  which  the  process  cer- 
tainly involves.     And  this  is  the  nature  of  the 
danger :    the    definition   has   an   inherent   ten-  , 
dency  to  substitute  itself  for  the  thing  defined.  | 
The  terms  in  which  a  fact  is  expressed  creep 
into  the  place  of  the  fact  itself.     The  reality  is 


128 


The  Human  Life  of  God 


An  illustra- 
tion from 
the  history 
of  Art. 


removed  insensibly  to  a  remote  distance  behind 
the  verbal  symbols  which  represent  it.  The 
way  of  access  to  it  is  blocked,  and  its  influ- 
ence is  restricted  by  the  forms  of  expression 
invented  to  define  it. 

I  do  not  know  where  we  can  find  a  more  vivid 
illustration  of  this  process  than  that  which  is 
given,  in  many  ways,  in  the  history  of  art.  The 
first  effort  of  the  artist  is  to  represent  something 
that  he  has  seen  or  imagined.  Out  of  this 
effort  and  the  work  which  it  produces,  grow 
certain  methods  and  habits  of  representing 
landscape  and  architecture  and  the  human 
figure.  Out  of  these  habits  grow  rules  and 
formulas,  not  only  for  the  hand  but  also  for  the 
eye.  On  these  formulas  schools  are  founded. 
In  these  schools  the  example  of  masters  comes 
to  have  an  authority  which  overshadoAvs  and 
limits  the  vision  of  facts  as  well  as  the  repre- 
sentation of  them.i  The  Japanese  artists,  of 
certain  schools,  actually  reproduce  that  infan- 
tile condition  of  sight  in  which  all  things 
appear  flat,  in  a  single  j^lane  without  perspec- 
tive. The  Giotteschi  of  Italy  carried  their 
disregard  of  anatomy  to  such  a  point  that 
joints  and  articulations  vanished  from  the 
human   figure. 

1  See  Appendix,  note  32. 


The  Human  Life  of  God  129 

Now  this  same  process  of  limitation  by  for-  Represei 
miilas  may  be  observed,  on  the  ideal  side,  in  (jhrist. 
the  course  of  religious  art.  The  first  pictures 
of  Christ,  traced  in  colour  upon  the  walls  of 
the  Catacombs,  or  carved  in  stone  upon  the  sar- 
cophagi of  the  Christian  dead,  do  not  give  us 
indeed  the  very  earliest  conception  of  Him ;  for 
the  Christian  art  of  the  first  two  centuries,  if  it 
ever  existed,  has  long  since  perished.  But  that 
which  remains,  dating  from  the  third  and  fourth 
centuries,  bears  witness  to  an  idea  of  the  Christ 
which  was  simple  and  natural  and  humane. 
He  appears  as  a  figure  of  youthful  beauty  and 
graciousness  ;  the  good  Shepherd  bearing  a 
lamb  upon  His  shoulders ;  the  true  Orpheus 
drawing  all  creatures  and  souls  by  the  charm 
of  His  amiable  music. ^  These  are  only  sym- 
bolic representations,  yet  they  evidence  a  con- 
ception of  Him  which  was  still  in  touch  with 
the  facts.  A  little  later  we  find  an  effort  to 
conceive  and  depict  Him  with  more  realism. 
His  face  appears  in  pictures  which  resemble 
the  description  given  in  the  spurious  Epistle 
of  Lentulus :  "  A  man  of  dignified  presence, 
with  dark  hair  parted  in  the  middle  and 
flowing  down,   after  the  custom  of   the  Naza- 

1  So  in  the  paintings  from  the  Catacombs  of  S.  Agnese 
and  S.  Callisto. 


130 


The  Human  Life  of  Crod 


Tradition 
petrifies 
Christian 
Art. 


renes,  over  both  shoulders  ;  His  brow  clear 
and  pure  ;  His  unfurrowed  face  of  pleasant 
aspect  and  medium  complexion  ;  His  mouth 
and  nose  faultless ;  His  short,  light  beard 
parted  in  the  middle  ;  His  eyes  bright  and 
lustrous."^ 

But  when  we  pass  on  to  the  creations  of  so- 
called  Byzantine  art,  we  find  ourselves  face  to 
face  with  an  utterly  different  view  of  the  Christ. 
His  countenance  now  stares  out  in  glittering 
mosaic  from  the  walls  of  great  churches,  huge, 
dark,  threatening,  a  dreadful  and  forbidding 
face.  The  fixed  and  formal  lines  are  repeated 
and  deepened  by  artist  after  artist.  Every  feat- 
ure of  naturalness  is  obliterated ;  every  feature 
that  seemed  to  express  awfulness  is  exagger- 
ated and  emphasized.  The  wide-set  eyes,  the 
long  narrow  countenance,  the  stern,  inflexible 
mouth,  —  in  this  ocular  definition  the  man 
Christ  Jesus  has  vanished,  and  we  see  only  the 
immense,  immutable,  and  terrible  Pantokrator, 
who  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our 
infirmities.  2 

When  we  turn  to  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
Church  out  of  which  this  type  of  art  grew,  we 

1  This  is  the  imago  Christi  which  we  see  in  the  painting 
from  the  Catacomb  of  S.  Ponziano. 

2  See  the  mosaic  of  Christ  in  the  Church  of  St.  Paul  out- 
side tlie  walls,  near  Rome. 


The  Human  Life  of  God  131 

see  there  the  process  explained.  The  early  Dogmas 
Greek  Fathers,  like  Trenteus,  went  directly  to  ^ -^^  ^^ 
the  Holy  Scriptures  for  their  view  of  the  per-  Christ. 
son  of  Christ,  and  frankly  accepted  all  the 
features  of  the  living,  lovely  portrait  there  dis- 
closed. ^  They  recognized  without  reserve  the 
reality  of  Christ's  human  growth  in  wisdom  and 
stature  and  in  favour  with  God  and  men ;  the 
actual  limitations  of  Christ's  human  knowledge 
as  expressed  in  the  questions  that  He  asked  and 
in  His  profession  of  ignorance  in  regard  to  the 
time  of  His  second  advent ;  the  intimacy  of  His 
sympathy  with  us  in  temptation,  suffering,  and 
death.  But  with  the  development  of  theological 
definition  this  direct  view  of  Christ  was  modified, 
obscured,  and  at  last  totally  eclipsed.  Instead  of 
looking  at  God  through  His  revelation  in  Christ, 
the  Fathers  began  to  look  at  Christ  through  a 
more  and  more  abstract,  precise,  and  inflexible 
statement  of  the  metaphysical  idea  of  God.  It 
became  necessary  to  harmonize  the  Scripture 
record  of  the  life  of  Jesus  with  the  theories  of 
the  divine  nature  set  forth  in  the  decrees  of 
councils  and  defined  with  amazing  particularity 
in  the  writings  of  theologians.  In  the  effort  to 
accomplish  this,  two  main  lines  of  thought  were 
followed.  One  line  abandoned  the  belief  in 
1  See  Appendix,  note  33, 


132 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod 


The  hiding 
of  the  face 
of  Jesus. 


Bending  the 
Bible  to  Jit 
definitions. 


Christ's  real  and  complete  humanity,  and  re- 
duced His  human  life  to  a  tenuous  and  filmy 
apparition.  The  other  line  distinguished  be- 
tween His  humanity  and  His  Divinity  in  such 
a  way  as  to  divide  Him  into  two  halves,  either 
of  which  appears  virtually  complete  without 
the  other,  and  both  of  which  are  united,  not  in 
a  single  and  sincere  personality,  but  in  an  out- 
ward manifestation  and  a  concealed  life,  cover- 
ing in  some  mysterious  way  a  double  centre  of 
existence.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  the  ex- 
treme results  of  these  two  lines  of  thought  were 
condemned  by  the  Church  in  the  heresies  of 
Doketism  and  ApoUinarianism,  Eutychianism 
and  Nestorianism.  But  it  is  equally  fair  to  say 
that  the  influence  of  these  theories  was  by  no 
means  checked  nor  extirpated.  They  continued 
to  make  themselves  felt  powerfully  and  perni- 
ciously ;  now  in  the  direction  of  dissolving 
the  humanity  of  Christ  into  a  mere  cloud 
enveloping  His  Deity ;  and  again  in  the 
direction  of  dividing  and  destroying  the 
unity  of  His  person  in  the  definitions  of  a 
dual    nature. 

It  is  not  necessary,  nor  would  it  be  possible, 
for  us  to  trace  this  pirocess  in  detail  through  all 
its  complexities  and  self-contradictions.  It 
will  be  enough  to  give  two  or  three  specimens 


The  Human  Life  of  God  133 

of  the  kind  of  work  to  which  it  led  in  dealing 
with  two  essential  features  of  the  picture  of 
Christ  which  is  given  to  us  in  the  Gospels  :  His 
human  limitation  of  knowledge,  and  His  human 
growth  in  wisdom,  stature,  and  grace.  Both 
limitation  and  growth  are  unexempt  conditions 
of  manhood.  Both  are  unquestionably  attrib- 
uted to  Clirist  in  the  New  Testament.  Both 
are  explicitly  denied  by  theologians.  Ephrem 
Syrus,  commenting  upon  the  Diatessaron  of 
Tatian,  says :  "  Christ,  though  He  knew  the 
moment  of  His  advent,  yet  that  they  might  not 
ask  Him  any  more  about  it,  said,  I  know  it  not.^^  ^ 
Chrysostom,  in  his  explanation  of  St.  Matthew 
xxiv.  36,  paraphrases  Christ's  words  in  this 
extraordinary  fashion  :  "  For  if  thou  seek  after 
the  day  and  the  hour  thou  shalt  not  hear  them 
of  me,  saith  He ;  but  if  of  times  and  preludes, 
I  will  tell  thee  all  exactly.  For  that  indeed 
I  am  not  ignorant  of  it^  I  have  shown  by  many 
things.  —  I  lead  thee  to  the  very  vestibule  ; 
and  if  1  do  not  open  unto  thee  the  doors,  this 
also  I  do  for  your  good."^  John  of  Damascus, 
defending   the   orthodox   faith,    declares    that, 

1  Evang.  Concordant.  Expos.  (Auclier  and  Moesinger, 
Venice,  1876),  p.  16. 

2  St.  Chrysostom,  Homilies  on  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew, 
Ixxvii.  2.  The  Nicene  Fathers  (New  York,  Christian  Litera- 
ture Co.,  1888),  vol.  X. 


134  The  Human  Life  of  God 

''Christ  is  said  to  advance  in  wisdom  and 
stature  and  grace,  because  He  grows  in  fact  in 
stature,  and  through  His  growth  in  stature 
brings  out  into  exhibition  the  wisdom  which 
already  existed  in  Him.  .  .  .  But  those  who 
say  that  He  really  grew  in  wisdom  and  grace  as 
receiving  increase  in  these,  deny  that  the  flesh 
was  united  to  the  word  from  the  first  moment 
of  its  existence."  1  Peter  Lombard  does  not 
explicitly  adopt,  but  quotes  with  evident  ap- 
proval, the  opinion  that  the  person  of  the  eter- 
nal Word  put  on  a  human  body  and  soul  as  a 
robe,  in  order  that  He  might  appear  suitably  to 
the  eyes  of  mortals,  yet  in  Himself  He  was  not 
changed  by  this  incarnation,  but  remained  one 
and  the  same,  immutable.^ 

A  very  full  and  clear  exhibition  of  the  dark- 
ness and  unreality  in  which  the  patristic  and 
mediceval  theologians  involved  the  person  of 
Christ  may  be  found  in  Professor  A.  B.  Bruce's 
great  book  on  The  Humiliation  of  Christ,^  and 
in  Canon  Charles  Gore's  two  admirable  vol- 
umes on   The  Incarnation^'^  from  which  I  have 

1  John  Damascene,  De  Fide  Orthod.y  Lib.  iii.  chap.  xxii. 

2  Peter  Lombard,  Sentt.,  Book  iii.,  Dist.  vi.  §  6. 

3  Prof.  Alexander  Balmain  Bruce,  The  Humiliation  of 
Christ  (New  York,  Armstrongs,  1887). 

4  Canon  Charles  Gore,  The  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
Barapton  Lectures,  1891  (New  York,  Scribners,  1891).     Dis- 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod  135 

taken  some  illustrations  after  verifying  them. 
Professor  Bruce  sums  up  the  matter  by  saying : 
"  The  effect,  though  not  the  design,  of  theories 
of  Christ's  person  has  been  to  a  large  extent  to 
obscure  some  of  these  elementary  truths,  — 
the  unity  of  the  person,  or  the  reality  of  the 
humanity,  or  the  divinity  dwelling  within  the 
man,  or  the  voluntariness  and  ethical  value  of 
the  state  of  the  humiliation.  That  is,  certain- 
ties have  been  sacrificed  for  uncertainties,  facts 
for  hypotheses,  faith  for  speculation.  "^ 

Canon     Gore,    in    his    Bampton     Lectures,   ^-^^^na?!- 

hood  of 

adroitly  uses  the  Jesuit  theologian  De  Lugo  as  jesus  van- 
a  man  of  straw  through  whom  he  may  safely  ^^^^^^• 
and  vigorously  attack  the  false  conceptions  of 
Christ's  person  which  are  still  current,  and  to  a 
considerable  degree  dominant,  in  dogmatic  the- 
ology. He  says  that  De  Lugo  depicts  a  Christ 
"  who,  if  He  was,  as  far  as  His  body  is  con- 
cerned, in  a  condition  of  growth,  was,  as  re- 
gards His  soul  and  intellect,  from  the  first 
moment  and  throughout  His  life  in  full  enjoy- 
ment of  the  beatific  vision.  Externally  a  way- 
farer, a  viator,  inwardly  He  was  throughout 
a  eomprehensor,  He  had  already  attained.  .  .  . 
It   is   denied   that   He   can    be  strictly   called 

sertations  on  Subjects  connected  with  the  Incarnation  (New 
York,  Scribners,  1895).    i  The  Humiliation  of  Christ,  p.  192. 


136  The  Human  Life  of  God 

'  the  servant  of  God  '  even  as  man,  in  spite  of  the 
direct  use  of  that  expression  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  He  is  spoken  of  at  the  institution  of 
the  Eucharist  as  offering  sacrifice  to  His  own 
Godhead."! 
Modern  ex-         Canon    Gore    condemns   this   picture  by  De 

amples  of  .  .,  .  t      . 

false  Chris-    -l^^go  as  in  striking  contradiction  to  that  which 
toiogy.  ^j^e  New  Testament  presents.     But  the  point 

which  I  wish  to  make  clear  and  distinct,  is  that, 
in  spite  of  this  contradiction,  the  picture  has 
not  been  frankly  and  finally  discarded  in  Chris- 
tian theology.  It  still  exercises  an  obscuring 
and  perverting  influence  upon  the  vision  of 
Christ.  It  still  produces,  by  imitation,  repre- 
sentations of  Him  in  which  definitions  dominate 
facts,  and  formulas  hide  or  obliterate  realities. 
We  do  not  need  to  go  back  to  the  seventeenth 
century,  nor  abroad  to  the  Jesuits,  for  .our  ex- 
amples. We  may  turn  to  Archdeacon  Wilber- 
force's  book  on  The  Incarnation^  and  find  him 
representing  the  body  of  Christ  as  miraculous 
in  its  freedom  from  sickness,  its  power  over 
animals,  its  exemption  from  the  necessity  of 
death,  and  its  inherent  power  of  communicat- 
ing life  to  others.^     In  regard  to  the  mind  of 

1  The  Incarnation,  p,  164 

2  Archdeacon  Wilberforce,  The  Doctrine  of  the  Incarna- 
tion (New  York,  Young,  1885),  pp.  60-65. 


The  Human  Life  of  Qod  137 

Christ,  he  says  that  "  smce  it  would  be  impious 
to  suppose  that  our  Lord  had  pretended  an 
ignorance  which  He  did  not  experience,  we 
are  led  to  the  conclusion  [astonishing  conclu- 
sion !]  that  what  He  partook,  as  man,  was 
not  actual  ignorance,  but  such  deficiency  in 
the  means  of  arriving  at  truth  as  belongs  to 
mankind."^  We  may  turn  to  the  Dogmatic 
Theology  of  Dr.  W.  G.  T.  Shedd  and  read: 
"Jesus  Christ  as  a  theanthropic  person  was  AdouhU 
constituted  of  a  divine  nature  and  a  human  ^^^^ 
nature.  The  divine  nature  had  its  own  form 
of  experience,  like  the  mind  in  an  ordinary 
human  person  ;  and  the  human  nature  had  its 
own  form  of  experience,  like  the  body  in  a  com- 
mon man.  The  experiences  of  the  divine  nature 
were  as  diverse  from  those  of  the  human  nature 
as  those  of  the  human  mind  are  from  those  of 
the  human  body.  Yet  there  was  but  one  per- 
son who  was  the  subject-ego  of  both  of  these 
experiences.  At  the  very  time  when  Christ 
was  conscious  of  weariness  and  thirst  by  the 
well  of  Samaria,  He  also  was  conscious  that  He 
was  the  eternal  and  only-begotten  Son  of  God, 
the  second  person  in  the  Trinity.  This  is  proved 
by  His  words  to  the  Samaritan  woman :  '  Who- 
soever drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give 

1  IhiQl.,  p.  71. 


138 


The  Human  Life  of  God 


His  man- 
hood a 
vesture. 


him  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the  water  that  I 
shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water 
springing  up  into  everlasting  life.  I  that  speak 
unto  thee  am  the  Messiah. '  The  first-mentioned 
consciousness  of  fatigue  and  thirst  came  through 
the  human  nature  in  His  person  ;  the  second- 
mentioned  consciousness  of  omnipotence  and 
supremacy  came  through  the  divine  nature  in 
His  person.  If  He  liad  not  had  a  human  nature, 
He  could  not  have  had  the  former  consciousness; 
and  if  He  had  not  had  a  divine  nature.  He  could 
not  have  had  the  latter.  Because  He  had  both 
natures  in  one  person,  He  could  have  both."^ 
We  may  turn  to  Canon  Liddon's  magnificent 
work  on  The  Divinity  of  our  Lord  and  find  him 
writing  :  "  Christ's  Manhood  is  not  of  Itself  an 
individual  being ;  It  is  not  a  seat  and  centre  of 
personality ;  It  has  no  conceivable  existence 
apart  from  the  act  whereby  the  Eternal  Word 
in  becoming  Incarnate  called  It  into  being  and 
made  It  His  Own.  It  is  a  vesture  which  He  has 
folded  around  His  person  ;  It  is  an  instrument 
through  which  He  places  Himself  in  contact  with 
men  and  whereby  He  acts  upon  humanity."  ^ 

1  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  Dogmatic  Theology  (New  York,  Scrib- 
ners,  1888),  vol.  ii.,  pp.  307,  308. 

2  H.  P.  Liddon,  The  Divinity  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  Bampton  Lectures,  1866  (London,  Rivingtons, 
11th  edition,  1885),  p.  202. 


The  Human  Life  of  Qod  139 

And  so,  if  we  accept  this  picture  of  Christ,  The  human 
the  manhood  of  Jesus  fades,  retreats,  grows  ^^^^ 
dim  and  shadowy.  It  wavers  like  a  veil.  It 
dissolves  like  mist.  It  descends  again  mys- 
terious and  impenetrable,  illusory  and  imj)er- 
sonal,  to  envelop  Him  whom  we  love  and  adore 
in  its  strange  and  unfamiliar  folds.  We  grope 
after  Him,  but  we  can  touch  nothing  but  the 
hem  of  His  mystic  robe.  We  long  for  Him, 
but  He  approaches  us,  and  comes  into  contact 
with  us,  only  through  an  instrument.  He  is 
not  what  He  seems.  The  Son  of  God  behind 
that  veil  is  beyond  our  reach.  The  Son  of 
man,  whom  human  eyes  beheld  and  human 
hands  touched,  is  not  the  real,  living,  veritable 
Saviour,  but  only  the  form,  the  garment,  of  an 
inscrutable  life.  And  if,  in  our  dire  confusion, 
our  reasoning  faith  still  succeeds  in  holding 
fast  to  the  Eternal  Logos,  our  confiding  faith  is 
maimed  and  robbed  by  the  loss  of  that  true, 
near,  personal,  loving,  sympathizing  Jesus,  who 
was  born  of  a  woman,  suffered  under  Pontius 
Pilate,  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried.  He  is 
gone  from  us,  as  certainly  as  if  the  Pharisees 
had  spoken  truth  -when  they  said  that  His  dis- 
ciples came  by  night  and  stole  Him  away.  The 
thing  of  which  we  are  most  in  doubt,  and 
about  which  we  are  least  capable  of  any  positive 


140  The  Human  Life  of  God 

affirmation,  is  the  humanity  of  Christ.  We  are 
left  with  a  perfectly  orthodox  doctrine  of  two 
natures,  but  we  no  longer  have  a  clear  and 
simple  gospel  of  One  Person  to  preach  to  the 
doubting  souls  of  men.^ 

n 

The  cry  of        But   the   heart   of    Christendom   has    never 
a  human    ^  rested  content  with  this  distant,  vague,  uncer- 
Saviour.        tain  view  of   the   real  manhood  of  our  Lord. 
There   has  always   been   a  protest  against  it. 
There  has  always  been  an  effort  to  escape  from 
it. 
The  icor-  We    can    see    a    strange    and    indirect    but 

indubitable  evidence  of  this  deep  inward  dis- 
satisfaction, in  the  rise  and  growth  of  an  im- 
passioned devotion  to  the  human  mother  of 
Jesus.  The  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  was 
a  reprisal  for  the  obscuration  of  the  humanity 
of  her  Son.  In  the  thought  of  her  true 
womanly  tenderness  and  affection,  her  real  and 
unquestionable  sorrows,  her  simple  and  familiar 
joys,  her  intimate,  genuine,  unfailing  sympathy 
with  all  that  makes  our  mortal  life  a  bitter, 
blessed  reality  to  us,  the  souls  of  the  lowly  and 
the  lonely  found   that   peace    and   consolation 

1  See  Appendix,  note  34. 


ship  of  the 
Virgin 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod  141 

which  they  could  no  longer  find  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  distant  Second  Person  of  the 
Trinity  through  the  telescope  of  theology. 
That  which  Jesus  Himself  was  to  John  and 
Peter,  to  the  household  of  Bethany,  to  the 
penitent  publican,  and  to  the  woman  which 
was  a  sinner,  Mary  became  to  the  baffled  and 
confused  faith  of  a  later  age,  —  an  approachable 
mediator  of  the  divine  mercy,  a  helper  who 
could  really  understand  and  feel  the  need  of 
those  who  cried  for  help,  a  warm  and  living 
image  of.  the  Eternal  Sympathy  in  flesh  and 
blood.  In  the  light  of  mediseval  dogmatics 
Mariolatry  appears  not  without  its  justifica- 
tion. And  for  my  part,  I  should  not  wish  to  be 
bound  to  the  Christology  of  Peter  Lombard 
and  Thomas  Aquinas,  without  finding  the  com- 
pensation which  their  followers  found  in  per- 
sonal devotion  and  confidential  trust,  flowing 
instinctively  and  irresistibly  towards  the  blessed 
Virgin. 

But,  after  all,  this  was  only  a  substitute  for  ^^e  search 
the  real  thing.  It  gave  to  faith  the  image  of 
a  lovely  and  adorable  humanity  in  closest  union 
with  God  ;  but  it  did  not  give  back  the  old 
vision  of  the  human  life  of  God.  And  so 
through  all  the  ages  we  see  men  turning,  now 
in  solitary  thought,  now  in  great  companies,  to 


142  The  Human  Life  of  God 

seek  that  vision.  The  renaissance  of  Christian 
art,  with  its  beautiful  pictures  of  the  infancy  of 
Jesus,  with  its  piercing  and  pathetic  representa- 
tions of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus,  bears  witness 
to  the  eagerness  of  that  search.  The  revivals 
of  Christian  life,  seen  in  such  diverse  yet  cog- 
nate forms  as  the  rise  of  the  ''  Poor  Men  of 
Lyons"  and  the  foundation  of  the  ''Brother- 
hood of  St.  Francis "  are  evidences  of  the  same 
movement  back  to  Christ.  Peter  Waldo  outside 
of  the  Church,  and  Francis  of  Assisi  within  the 
Church,  were  awakened  by  the  same  ^vision  of 
Jesus,  "  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief,"  and  were  inspired  by  the  same  desire  to 
make  His  real  human  life  the  pattern  of  all  piety 
Thespint  and  the  example  of  all  goodness.  The  Refor- 
mation, which  was  at  once  and  equally  an  intel- 
lectual and  a  spiritual  protest  against  the  arro- 
gance of  current  theology  and  the  coldness  of 
religious  life,  supplies  no  better  watchword  to 
express  its  great  motive  than  the  saying  of 
Erasmus  :  "  I  could  wish  that  those  frigid  subt- 
leties either  were  completely  cut  off,  or  were 
not  the  only  things  that  the  theologians  held  as 
certain,  and  that  the  Christ  pure  and  simple  might 
he  implanted  deep  luithin  the   minds   of  men.^^^ 

1  Erasmus,  quoted   in   Gore,  Dissertations,  etc.,  p.  180, 
Epistle  207. 


of  the  Refor- 
mation, 


The  Human  Life  of  G-od  143 

Modern  Biblical  scholarship,  with  its  splendid 
apparatus  of  linguistic  and  historical  learning, 
proceeding  in  part,  at  first,  from  a  sceptical  im- 
pulse, has  developed  in  our  generation,  either 
through  the  conversion  of  sceptics  in  the  process 
of  research,  or  through  the  awakening  of  be- 
lievers to  the  necessities  of  their  faith,  into  a 
reverent  and  eager  quest  for  the  historic  Christ, 
the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels,  the  Lord  of  the  primi- 
tive Church,  that  we  may  see  Him  as  the  first 
Christians  saw  Him,  in  the  integrity  of  His  per- 
son and  the  sincerity  of  His  life,  and  receive  from  ''^ack  to 

Christ  I ' ' 

Him  what  they  received,  —  a  faith  that  dissolved 
doubts  and  an  inspiration  that  conquered  diffi- 
culties. Back  to  the  New  Testament  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  —  back  to  the 
facts  that  lie  behind  the  definitions,  back  to 
the  Person  who  embodies  the  truth,  back  to  the 
record  and  reflection  of  that  which  the  apostles 
"heard,  and  saw  with  their  eyes,  and  looked 
upon,  and  their  hands  handled  of  the  word  of 
life,"  —  this,  and  this  only,  is  the  way  that  leads 
us  within  sight  of 

"  the  heaven-drawn  picture 
Of  Christ,  the  living  Word." 

Now  it  is  a  marvellous  thing,  and  one   for 
which  we  can  never  be  grateful  enough,  that 


144 


The  Human  Life  of  God 


The  Bible 
gives  us  a 
Kinsman- 
Redeemer. 


The  Christ 
of  the  ■ 
Gospels. 


when  we  come  to  the  New  Testament  in  this 
spirit,  we  find  in  it  exactly  what  we  need  ;  not  an 
abstract  formuLa,  not  a  collection  of  definitions, 
but  the  graphic  reflection  of  a  Person  seen 
from  a  fourfold  point  of  view,  and  the  simple 
record  of  manifold  human  experience  under  the 
direct  and  dominant  influence  of  that  Person. 
And  the  one  fact  that  emerges  clear  and  tri- 
umphant from  the  reflection  and  the  record,  is 
that  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  never 
were  in  doubt  of  the  human  nature  of  Christ 
and  never  hesitated  to  make  the  most  positive 
affirmations  in  regard  to  it. 

The  Christ  of  the  Gosjjels  is  bone  of  our 
bone,  flesh  of  our  flesh,  mind  of  our  mind, 
heart  of  our  heart.  He  is  in  subjection  to 
His  parents  as  a  child.  He  grows  to  man- 
hood. His  character  is  unfolded  and  perfected 
by  discipline.  He  labours  for  daily  bread,  and 
prays  for  Divine  grace.  He  hungers,  and 
thirsts,  and  sleeps,  and  rejoices,  and  weeps. 
He  is  anointed  with  the  Spirit  for  His  minis- 
try. He  is  tempted.  He  is  lonely  and  dis- 
appointed. He  asks  for  information.  He 
confesses  ignorance.  He  interprets  the  facts 
of  nature  and  life  with  a  prophetic  insight. 
But  He  makes  no  new  disclosure  of  the  secrets 
of  omniscience.     There  is  no  hint  nor  indica- 


The  Human  Life  of  God  145 

tion  that  He  is  leading  a  double  life,  reigning 
consciously  as  God  while  He  is  suffering  appar- 
ently as  man.  His  personality  is  simple  and 
indivisible.  The  glory  of  what  He  is  and  does, 
lies  not  only  in  its  perfection,  but  in  the  hard 
conditions  of  its  accomplishment.  Superhuman 
in  His  origin,  as  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God ; 
superhuman  in  His  office  and  work,  as  the  re- 
vealer  of  the  Father  and  the  redeemer  of  man- 
kind ;  in  His  earthly  existence  the  Christ  of  the 
Gospels  enters  without  reserve  and  without  de- 
ception into  all  the  conditions  and  limitations 
which  are  necessary  to  give  to  the  world,  once 
and  forever,  the  human  life  of  God.^ 

When  we  turn  to  the  Epistles  to  see  how  '^^^  Christ 
this  view  of  Christ  was  affected  by  the  recog-  Epistles. 
nition  of  His  divine  glory  and  power  as  one 
who  had  been  raised  to  the  right  hand  of  God 
and  made  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church, 
two  things  strike  us  with  tremendous  force. 
First,  the  identity  of  His  person  was  not  lost, 
nor  the  continuity  of  His  being  broken :  the 
exalted  Christ  is  none  other  than  "this  same 
Jesus."  2  Second,  the  reality  and  absoluteness 
of  His  humiliation  are  emphasized  as  the  ground 
and  cause  of  His  exaltation. 

How  vividly  these  two  things  come  out,  for 
1  See  Appendix,  note  35.        2  ^cts  i.  11. 


view. 


146  The  Human  Life  of  God 

St.  PauVs  example,  in  the  writings  of  St.  Paul.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  "  the  Christ  whom  Paul  had 
seen  was  the  risen  Christ,  and  the  conception 
of  Him  in  His  glorified  character  is  the  one 
which  rules  ]ns  thoughts  and  forms  the  start- 
ing-point of  his  teaching."  ^  Corresponding  to 
this  present  glory,  Paul  assumes  an  eternally 
pre-existent  glory  of  Christ  as  the  image  of 
the  invisible  God,  the  medium  and  end  of  crea- 
tion. ^  Now  it  is  of  this  Person,  divinely  glori- 
ous in  the  past  as  the  One  who  is  before  all 
things  and  in  whom  all  things  consist,^  divinely 
glorious  in  the  present  as  the  One  who  is  far 
above  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in 
this  world  but  in  that  which  is  to  come,*  — 
it  is  of  this  Person  that  Paul  writes,  in  words 
so  strong  that  they  touch  the  very  border  of 
the  impossible :  "  For  our  sakes.  He  beggared 
Himself  that  we  through  His  beggary  might 
be  enriched."^  And  again:  "He,  existing  in 
the  form  of  God,  did  not  consider  an  equal 
state  with  God  a  thing  to  be  selfishly  grasped 
and  held,  but  emptied  Himself  and  took  the 
form  of  a  slave,  being  made  in  the  likeness  of 
man."^      These   powerful    expressions,    "self- 

1  Stevens,  The  Pauline  Theologij,  p.  206. 

2  Col.  i.  16.        3  Col.  i.  17.        4  Eph.  i.  21. 
6  2  Cor.  viii.  9.  e  piiQ.  n.  6,  7. 


The  Human  Life  of  G-od  147 

beggary,"  "self-emptying,"  seem  to  be  directly 
designed  to  break  up  the  conventional  moulds 
in  which  dogmatic  theology  has  attempted  to 
cast  the  truth  and  let  it  harden.  They  bring 
back  a  vital  warmth  and  motion  into  the  facts 
of  the  Incarnation.  Once  more  it  glows  and 
flows.  Once  more  we  see  that  it  is  not  a  mere 
exhibition  of  being  but  a  process  of  becoming. 
The  idea  of  self-beggary  mightily  overflows 
the  mere  statement  that  a  human  nature  was 
added  and  united  to  the  divine  nature;  for 
that  would  have  been  no  impoverishment  but 
an  enrichment.  1  The  idea  of  self -emptying  The 
shatters  the  narrow  dogma  that  the  Son  of  ^'^^^^^• 
God  suffered  no  change  in  Himself  when  He 
became  man.  It  was  a  change  so  absolute,  so 
immense,  that  it  can  only  be  compared  with 
the  vicissitude  from  fulness  to  emptiness.  He 
laid  aside  the  existence-form  of  God,  in  order 
that  He  might  take  the  existence-form  of  man. 
Whatever  right  He  had  to  an  equal  state  of 
glory  with  God,  that  right  He  did  not  cling 
to,  but  surrendered,  in  order  that  He  might 
become  a  servant.  And  upon  this  real  self- 
emptying  there  followed  a  real  self-humilia- 
tion, wherein,  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man. 
He  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death 
1  See  Appendix,  note  36. 


148 


The  Human  Life  of  God 


The  Epistle 
of  Christ's 
brotherhood. 


of  the  cross. ^  It  was  on  account  of  this,  — 
and  by  "  this  "  we  must  understand  the  entire 
actual  operation  of  the  self-denying,  self-hum- 
bling, self-sacrificing  mind  of  Christ,  —  it  was 
for  this  reason,  St.  Paul  declares,  that  "  God 
highly  exalted  Him,  and  gave  unto  Him  the 
name  which  is  above  every  name."^  And  I 
know  not  how  to  interpret  such  language 
with  any  reality  of  intelligence,  unless  it 
means  that  the  present  glory  of  the  Son  of 
God  is  in  some  true  sense  the  result  of  His 
having  become  man  and  so  fulfilled  the  will 
of  God. 

This  view,  which  St.  Paul  condenses  into  a 
single  pregnant  "wherefore,"  is  expanded  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  The  object  of 
this  Epistle  is  to  show  the  superiority  of  the 
priesthood  and  sacrifice  of  Christ,  which  are 
substantial  and  enduring,  to  the  priesthood  and 
sacrifice  of  the  old  dispensation,  which  were 
shadowy  and  transient.  But  the  method  which 
the  writer  follows  is  not  to  deny,  but  to  assert 
the  verity  of  Christ's  humanity.  Without  this 
He  could  not  be  the  true  priest  nor  offer  the 
true  sacrifice.  ''In  all  things  it  behoved  Him 
to  be  made  like  unto  His  brethren.  "^  ''  For  we 
have  not  an  high  priest  which  cannot  be  touched 
1  Phil.  ii.  8.  2  Phil.  ii.  9,  3  Heb.  ii.  17. 


of  conde- 
scension. 


The  Human  Life  of  God  149 

with  the  feelmg  of  our  infirmities  :  but  was  in 
all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet  without 
sin."  1  "  Though  He  were  a  Son,  yet  learned 
He  obedience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered, 
and  being  made  perfect,  He  became  the  author 
of  eternal  salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey 
Him."^  This  complete  incarnation,  this  thor-  The  gioi-y 
ough  trial  under  human  conditions,  this  perfect 
discipline  of  obedience  through  suffering,  was  a 
humiliation.  But  it  was  in  no  sense  a  degrada- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  it  was  a  crowning  of 
Christ  with  glory  and  honour  in  order  that  He 
might  taste  death  for  every  man.  "  For  it  be- 
came Him,  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by 
whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  to 
glory,  to  make  tlie  captain  of  their  salvation 
perfect  through  suffering."^  If  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  teaches  anything,  it  certainly 
teaches  this.  The  humanity  of  Jesus  was  not 
the  veiling  but  the  unveiling  of  the  divine 
glory.  The  limitations,  temptations,  and  suffer- 
ings of  manhood  were  the  conditions  under 
which  alone  Christ  could  accomplish  the  great- 
est work  of  the  Deity,  —  the  redemption  of  a 
sinful  race.  The  seat  of  the  divine  revelation 
and  the  centre  of  the  divine  atonement  was  and 
is  the  human  life  of  God. 

1  Heb.  iv.  15.  2  Heb.  v.  8,  9.  3  Heb.  ii.  9,  10. 


150 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod 


III 


A  suminary 
of  conclu- 
sions. 


Current 
theology 
at  fault. 


Human 
theories 
not  to  be 
insisted 
upon. 


Here,  then,  we  may  pause  for  a  moment  and 
try  to  sum  up  the  conclusions  to  which  the  New 
Testament  leads  us  in  regard  to  the  person  of 
Christ. 

I  am  sincerely  anxious  not  to  be  misunder- 
stood. On  the  one  hand,  I  would  not  conceal 
for  a  moment  my  conviction  that  current  theol- 
ogy has  failed,  very  often  and  very  largely,  to 
do  justice  to  the  meaning  of  the  Incarnation  on 
the  human  side,  and  that  we  must  go  back  to 
the  image  of  Jesus  Christ  as  it  is  reflected  in  the 
Gospels  to  purify,  and  refresh,  and  simplify 
our  faith.  We  should  not  suffer  any  reverence 
for  ancient  definitions  of  doctrine,  however  well 
founded,  nor  any  fear  of  incurring  reproach  and 
mistrust  as  innovators,  to  deter  us  from  that 
necessary  and  loyal  return  to  the  reality  of  tlie 
Person  in  whom  our  creed  centres  and  on  whom 
it  rests.  To  find  Jesus  anew,  to  see  Him  again, 
as  if  for  the  first  time,  in  the  wondrous  glory 
of  His  humility,  is  the  secret  of  the  revival  of 
Christianity  in  every  age.  This  is  not  innova- 
tion ;  it  is  renovation. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  no  right  and  we 
ought  to  have  no  inclination  to  insist  exclusively 
upon  any  particular  theory  as  the  only  possible 


The  Human  Life  of  God  151 

explanation  of  the  facts  of  the  Incarnation. 
Every  earnest  and  thoughtful  man  must  feel 
that  these  facts  are  so  deep  and  mysterious  that 
the  plummet  of  human  reason  cannot  sound 
their  ultimate  recesses.  With  all  our  thinking 
upon  this  subject,  there  must  ever  mingle  a  con- 
sciousness of  insufficiency  and  a  confession  of 
ignorance.  But  with  this  confession  of  igno- 
rance there  must  go  also  a  clear  recognition  of 
those  portions  of  the  truth  which  are  unques- 
tionably revealed  in  the  New  Testament.  Three 
things  are  there  made  plain  to  faith. 

1.  God  is  not  such  a  being,  absolute,  immu- 
table, and  impassible,  that  the  Divine  Logos 
cannot  descend  by  a  free  act  of  self-determin- 
ing love  into  the  lower  estate  of  human  exist- 
ence, and  humble  Himself  to  the  conditions  of 
manhood  without  losing  His  personal  iden- 
tity.i 

2.  The  essence  of  the  Gospel  is  its  declara- 
tion of  the  fact  that  this  act  of  condescension, 
of  self-humiliation,  actually  has  been  performed, 
and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  eternal  Son  of  God 
who  has  taken  upon  Him  the  existence-form  of 
a  servant,  and  lived  a  truly  human  life,  and 
been  obedient  even  unto  death,  in  order  to  re- 
veal to  the  world  the  saving  love  of  God. 

1  See  Appendix,  note  37. 


Three  vital 
points. 


152  The  Human  Life  of  God 

3.  The  distinctive  attributes  of  personality 
in  Christ  (self-consciousness  and  self-deter- 
mination) are  not  dual,  as  of  two  persons, 
the  one  divine  and  the  other  human,  co-exist- 
ing side  by  side  in  a  double  life,  but  individual, 
and  manifested  as  the  life  of  one  person.  That 
per^n  is  the  Son  of  God,  who  laid  aside  the 
glory  which  He  had  with  the  Father,  and  emp- 
tied Himself,  and  so  became  the  Son  of  man ; 
and  on  account  of  this  humiliation  God  hath 
highly  exalted  Him  and  crowned  Him  with 
glory  and  honour  as  the  God-man  forever. 
These  points       These  are  the  points  which  are  vital  to  the 

YfXllSt  1)Q 

defended.  Ideality  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Incarnation.  All 
theories  which  make  these  points  clear,  safe- 
guard the  truth  in  its  integrity  and  in  its  rec- 
onciling power.  The  question  of  the  method 
of  the  divine  humiliation  and  the  human  exal- 
tation of  Christ,  lies  beyond  these  points.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  insist  upon  any  particular 
form  of  its  solution.  Indeed,  it  may  well  be 
that  the  profundity  of  the  question,  the  inher- 
ent mystery  of  the  facts  of  life  and  personality 
with  which  it  deals,  and  the  limitations  of 
human  thought  and  language,  preclude  the 
possibility  of  a  complete  and  final  answer  at 
present.  It  must  be  frankly  acknowledged 
that  none  of  the  solutions  which  have  been  pro- 


The  Human  Life  of  Qod  153 

pounded  hitherto  are  free  from  serious  perplex- 
ities. But  it  must  be  recognized  with  equal 
frankness  that  the  theories  which  have  been 
put  forward  in  modern  times,  with  new  earnest- 
ness and  power,  by  men  of  unquestionable  loy- 
alty to  the  Christianity  of  the  New  Testament, 
who  have  sought  to  find  a  clear  and  positive 
meaning  for  the  great  word  Keiiosis^  which 
St.  Paul  uses  to  describe  the  self-emptying  of 
Christ  in  the  Incarnation,  —  theories  which 
have  been  stigmatized  as  kenotic,  as  if  the  name 
were  enough  to  mark  them  as  unorthodox,  — 
are  so  far  from  being  heretical  that  they  have 
the  rare  merit  of  conserving  and  emphasizing  a 
truth  of  surpassing  value,  undoubtedly  taught 
in  the  Bible,  and  too  much  neglected,  if  not 
practically  denied,  during  many  centuries  of 
theological  speculation.  It  may  be,  as  Julius 
Miiller  held,  that  the  distinctive  attributes  of   Various 

.  methods  of 

personality  are,  abstractly  considered,  identical  safe-guard- 
in  God  and  man,  so  that,  by  the  divine  self-  "*^  ^^^^"''^ 
limitation  in  the  Incarnation,  they  are  actually 
unified,  like  two  circles  which  have  a  common 
centre.^     It   may  be,    as   Dr.   Fairbairn  holds, 
that  the  Son  of  God,  being  the  eternal  repre- 

1  For  this  statement  of  Miiller's  view,  which  he  gave  in 
his  lectures,  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  George  P.  Fisher,  who  was 
one  of  his  hearers. 


154  The  Human  Life  of  Qod 

sentative  of  the  filial  relationship  within  the 
Godhead,  the  symbol  of  the  created  within  the 
uncreated,  needed  but  to  surrender  the  form 
and  status  of  the  uncreated  Son  in  order  to 
assume,  by  the  same  act,  the  form  and  status 
which  man  as  the  created  Son  was  intended  to 
realize.  1  It  may  be,  as  Godet  holds,  that  the 
Incarnation  was  by  deprivation,  and  that  the 
Eternal  Word  renounced  His  divine  mode  of 
being,  and  entered  into  life,  without  omnisci- 
ence, omnipresence,  or  omnipotence,  as  an  un- 
conscious babe. 2  It  matters  little  in  what  form 
of  words  we  try  to  express  the  transcendent 
truth.  But  it  matters  much,  it  is  supremely 
important  for  the  integrity  of  our  Gospel  and 
for  its  influence  upon  the  heart  of  this  doubting 
age,  that  we  should  hold  fast  to  the  fact  that 
the  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  human  life 
of  God. 
The  new  The  time  is  at  hand  when   this   simple   and 

Christ.  profound  view  of  Christ,  which  beholds  in  Him 

the  God-man  in  whom  Deity  is  self-limited 
and  humbled  in  order  that  humanity  may  be 
divinely  exalted  and  perfected,  must  break 
through  the  clouds  which  have  obscured  it,  and 
become  the  leading  light  of  religion  and  theol- 

1  The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theologij,  p.  476. 

2  Godet,  Commentary  on  John  i.  14. 


The  Human  Life  of  God  155 

ogy.  The  life  of  Christ  needs  to  be  restudied 
and  rewritten  under  this  luminous  guidance,  in 
absolute  and  unhesitating  loyalty  to  the  facts 
as  they  lie  before  our  eyes  in  the  Gospels. ^  The 
doctrine  of  Christ's  person  needs  to  be  recon- 
structed and  restated  in  this  light.  It  must 
include,  as  the  creed  of  Chalcedon  included, 
not  only  the  truth  of  a  Homoousia  — a  sameness 
of  nature  and  experience  —  with  God,  which 
the  past  has  vindicated  ;  but  also  the  equal 
truth  of  a  Homoousia  with  man,  which  the  fut- 
ure is  to  unfold  as  the  universality  of  Christ's 
manhood  is  exhibited  through  His  progressive 
triumphs  among  all  the  races  of  men  and  all 
the  modes  of  human  life.  The  humanity  of  the 
incarnate  Christ  must  stand  out  as  clear,  as  pos- 

1  "No  action  of  our  Saviour's  earthly  life,  from  Bethleliem 
to  Calvary,  exhibits  divinity.  He  appears  first  as  a  helpless 
babe  in  the  manger.  He  is  subject  to  His  parents.  As  the 
child  grows,  He  waxes  strong  in  spirit  and  increases  in  wis- 
dom. Such  an  increase  in  wisdom  implies  increase  in  know- 
ledge, and  less  knowledge  or  greater  ignorance  to-day  than 
to-morrow.  Omniscience  could  not  have  been  exercised  by 
the  Jesus  who  was  growing  in  wisdom.  If  any  say  here,  as 
we  usually  do,  that  the  humanity  grew  but  the  divinity  was 
omniscient,  let  us  ask  if  there  were  two  persons  in  Jesus. 
This  Nestorianism  is  practically  the  creed  of  the  present  day 
with  the  Reformed  Churches.  They  have  gone  over  to  a 
virtual  duplication  of  the  person  of  Christ." — Howard 
Crosby,  The  True  Humanity  of  Christ  (New  York,  Ran- 
dolph, 1880). 


The  old 


156  The  Human  Life  of  G-od 

itive,  as  indubitable,  as  His  Deity.  Nay,  more, 
it  must  stand  where  the  New  Testament  puts 
it,  in  the  foreground  of  faith.  For  it  is  only  in 
this  humanity  that  we  can  truly  find  the  Son  of 
God  who  loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us. 
How  urgent  and  pressing  are  the    needs  of 

definitions  i  •      - 

inadequate,  our  own  age  which  call  US  to  this  work!  How 
far  behind  us,  how  effete  and  inadequate,  are 
the  terms  and  illustrations  which  were  used  in 
former  ages  to  express  the  results  of  human 
thought  in  regard  to  the  person  of  Christ ! 
Recall,  for  instance,  that  fine  similitude  of  the 
heated  sword  which  the  Lutheran  theologians 
borrowed  from  the  Fathers  to  explain  the 
union  of  the  divine  with  the  human  in  Christ! 
To  them  it  was  satisfactory  because  they  re- 
garded heat  as  one  substance  and  iron  as 
another  substance.  In  their  view  the  divine 
nature  penetrated  and  pervaded  the  human 
nature  as  the  caloric  fluid  was  supposed  to  per- 
meate a  mass  of  metal.  But  in  our  world  the 
caloric  fluid  does  not  exist.  Heat  is  not  a  sub- 
stance, but  a  mode  of  motion  in  substances. 
In  the  light  of  modern  science  the  old  simili- 
tude fades  into  a  meaningless  comparison  of 
tilings  which  cannot  be  compared. 

We  cannot  accept  the  scholastic  terminology 
of  "  natures  "  and  '•  subsistences  "  in  the  final 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod  157 

and  absolute  senss  in  which  it  was  once  em- 
ployed. The  philosophy  of  realism,  which 
ascribed  an  objective  existence  to  universals 
apart  from  individuals,  is  not  the  philosophy  of 
to-day.  Its  language  is  not  only  foreign,  but 
dead.  The  philosophy  of  being  and  not-being 
has  opened 'to  receive  the  philosophy  of  becom- 
ing ;  and,  in  so  doing,  it  has  been  utterly  trans- 
formed. 

Life  is  now  the  regnant  idea ;  personality  its  Life  is  the 
utmost  expression.  It  is  in  the  facts  of  life,  [^g^"^ 
its  secret  potencies,  its  mysterious  limitations 
in  germ  and  seed,  its  magnificent  unfoldings  in 
the  process  of  development  that  we  must  seek 
our  comparisons  for  the  Incarnation.  And  the 
very  search  will  bring  us  face  to  face  with  the 
conviction  that  life  in  all  its  manifestations 
transcends  analysis  without  ceasing  to  be  the 
object  of  knoAvledge. 

In  the  living  world  the  boundaries  of  imagi-    ^^^  ^^^^^ 

.  life  but  can- 

nation  are  not  coterminous  Avith  the  limits  of  ^o«  define  it. 
apprehension.  We  know  many  facts  and 
forms  of  life  whose  modes  of  becoming  we 
cannot  imagine.  It  is  just  as  impossible  for 
us  to  conceive  how  the  life  of  the  oak,  root  and 
trunk  and  branch  and  leaf,  form  and  colour 
and  massive  strength,  is  all  folded  in  the  tiny, 
colourless,  unshaped  seed,  as  it  is  to  conceive 


158  The  Hummi  Life  of  Grod 

how  tlie  life  of  God  is  embodied  in  the  man 
Christ  Jesus.  But  the  difficulty  of  conceiving 
the  manner  of  this  infolding,  this  embodiment, 
does  not  destroy  for  us  the  reality  of  the  life. 
Indeed,  if  we  could  explain  it  entirely,  if  we 
could  trace  it  perfectly  as  in  a  diagram,  if  we 
could  observe  it  completely,  as  in  one  of  those 
beautiful  models  of  flowers  which  a  skilful 
artist^  has  recently  made  to  illustrate  his  lect- 
ures on  botany,  we  should  know  that  it  was  not 
life,  but  only  a  picture  of  it.  The  picture  is 
useful,  but  it  is  not  vital.  The  metaphor  has 
its  value,  but  it  falls  far  short  of  the  truth. 
Self-heggary  and  self-emptijing  are  but  "words 
thrown  out  towards  "  an  unimaginable  but  not 
unreasonable  manifestation  of  the  Divine  Love 
as  life.  The  reality  to  which  they  point  us  is 
the  Son  of  God  descending  to  live  under  all 
the  conditions  and  limitations  of  energy  and 
consciousness  which  are  proper  to  the  Son  of 
man  :  the  Word  made  flesh  and  dwelling  among 
us. 

IV 

The  import-        j^  would  be  hard  to  overestimate  the  sisfnifi- 

ance  of  this  ... 

view  for  the    cauce  of  this  vicw  for  the  present  age,  and  the 
present  age.    importance  of  setting  it  forth  as  a  living  truth 
1  William  Hamilton  Gibson. 


The  Human  Life  of  G-od  159 

in  the  language  of  to-day.  It  is  the  only  vieAv 
which  gives  us  any  ground  of  reality  for  our 
faith  in  the  kinship  of  man  with  God.  If  the 
Son  of  God,  who  is  the  image  of  the  Father,  by 
laying  aside  the  outward  prerogatives  of  His 
divine  mode  of  existence,  actually  becomes 
human,  then,  and  only  then,  the  divine  image 
in  which  man  was  created  is  no  mere  figure  of 
speech,  but  a  substantial  likeness  of  spiritual 
being.  1  There  is  a  true  fellowship  between 
our  souls  and  our  Father  in  heaven.  Virtue 
is  not  a  vain  dream,  but  a  definite  striving 
towards  His  perfection.  Revelation  is  not  a 
deception,  but  a  message  from  Him  who  knows 
all  to  those  who  know  only  a  part.  Prayer  is 
not  an  empty  form,  but  a  real  communion. 

"  Speak  to  Him,  thou,  for  He  hears,  and  Spirit  with  Spirit 
can  meet : 
Closer  is  He  than  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands 
and  feet."  2 

This  view  of  the  spiritual  relation  of  man  to  The  kinship 
God  cannot  possibly  have  any  foundation  in  ^^^_ 
fact,  deep  enough  and  strong  enough  to  with- 
stand the  sweeping  floods  of  scepticism,  unless 
it  builds  upon  the  rock  of  a  veritable  Incarna- 
tion. The  discoveries  of  modern  science,  en- 
larging enormously  our  conceptions  of  the 
1  See  Appendix,  note  38.    2  Tennyson,  The  Higher  rantheism. 


160  The  Human  Life  of  Grod 

physical  universe,  have  not  only  put  man  (as 
we  said  in  the  first  lecture)  in  a  position  to 
receive  a  larger  and  loftier  vision  of  the  glory 
of  God,  but  they  have  made  such  a  vision  in- 
dispensable. And  they  have  emphasized,  with 
overwhelming  force,  the  form  in  which  that 
vision  must  come  in  order  to  meet  our  needs 
and  strengthen  faith  for  its  immense  task.  If 
we  are  not  to  be  utterly  belittled  and  crushed 
by  the  contemplation  of  the  vast  mass  of  matter 
and  the  tremendous  play  of  force  by  which  we 
are  surrounded  ;  if  we  are  still  to  hold  that  the 
vital  is  greater  than  the  mechanical,  the  moral 
than  the  material,  the  spiritual  than  the  j)hysi- 
cal ;  if  we  are  to  maintain  the  old  position  of 
all  noble  and  self -revering  thought,  that  "  man 
is  greater  than  the  universe,"  —  there  is  nothing 
that  can  so  profoundly  confirm  and  establish 
us,  there  is  nothing  that  can  so  surely  protect 
and  save  us  from  "the  distorting  influences  of 
our  own  discoveries,"  as  the  revelation  of  the 
Supreme  Being  in  an  unmistakably  vital,  moral, 
spiritual,  and  human  form. 
The  true  Such  a  revelation  at  once    rectifies,  purifies, 

view  of  God. 

and  elevates  our  view  of  God  Himself.  For  if 
the  Son  of  God  can  surrender  omnipresence, 
omniscience,  and  omnipotence  without  destroy- 
ing   His    personal    identity,    then    the    central 


The  Human  Life  of  Grod  161 

essence  of  the  Deity  is  neither  infinite  wisdom 
nor  infinite  power,  but  perfect  holiness  and 
perfect  goodness.  And  so  from  the  very 
lowest  valley  of  humiliation  we  catch  clear 
sight  of  the  very  loftiest  summit  of  theology, 
the  serene  and  shining  truth  that  God  is  Love. 

In  the  light  of  this  truth  we  behold  also  the  The  supreme 
highest  perfection  of  man  and  the  path  which  i^^^^ 
leads  to  it..  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law, 
and  the  supreme  pattern  of  love  is  the  example 
of  Christ.  And  whether  we  look  at  it  from 
the  divine  side  as  the  supreme  self-sacrifice  of 
God,  or  from  the  human  side  as  the  complete 
obedience  of  man,  everything  depends  upon  the 
genuineness  and  sincerity  of  this  example.  Un- 
less the  Son  of  God  truly  became  man,  the  In- 
carnation cannot  be,  as  Bishop  Westcott  calls 
it,  "a  revelation  of  human  duties."  What 
strength  could  Ave  draw  from  His  victory  over 
temptation  if  He  was  not  exposed  as  we  are 
to  the  assaults  of  evil  ?  ^  What  consolation 
could  we  draw  from  His  patience  if  He  was 
not  a  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with 
grief  ?  "  Jesus  Christ,"  says  one  of  the  greatest 
of  French  theologians,  "  is  not  the  Son  of  God 
hidden  in  the  Son  of  man  retaining  all  the 
attributes  of  Divinity  in  a  latent  state.  This 
1  See  Appendix,  note  39. 


162  The  Human  Life  of  aod 

would  be  to  admit  an  irreducible  duality  which 
would  make  the  unity  of  His  person  vanish 
and  withdraw  Him  from  the  normal  conditions 
of  human  life.  His  obedience  would  become 
illusory,  and  His  example  would  be  without 
application  to  our  race.  No,  when  the  Word 
became  flesh,  He  humbled  Himself,  He  put  off 
His  glory,  being  rich  He  made  Himself  poor, 
and  became  as  one  of  us,  only  without  sin,  that 
He  might  pass  through  the  moral  conflict  with 
all  the  risks  of  freedom. "^  When  we  see  Him 
thus,  we  know  what  it  means  to  follow  Him 
and  to  be  like  Him. 
The  value  of       Finally,  the  whole  value  of  the  Atonement, 

the  atone-  .,.         .    ^ 

tnent.  11^  its  reconciling  miiuence  on  the  heart  oi  man, 

in  its  exhibition  of  the  heart  of  God,  depends 
upon  the  actuality  of  the  Incarnation.  If  He 
who  died  on  Calvary  was  a  mere  theophany, 
like  the  angel  of  Jehovah  who  appeared  to 
Abraham,  then  His  death  was  merely  a  dra- 
matic spectacle.     The  body  of  Jesus  was  broken, 

God  suffers  but  God  was  iiot  touchcd.  But  if  the  Father 
truly  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered 
Him  up  for  us  all,  then  the  Father  also  suf- 
fered by  sympathy,  making  an  invisible  sacri- 
fice, an  infinite  surrender  of  love  for  our  sakes. 

1  De  Pressens6,  Jesus-Christ  (Paris,  1865),  Book  I,,  chap, 
v.,  p.  254. 


with  and  for 
us. 


The  Human  Life  of  God  163 

Then  the  Son  also  suffered,  niakhig  a  visible 
sacrifice,  and  pouring  out  His  soul  unto  death 
to  redeem  us  from  the  fear  of  death  and  the 
power  of  sin.  And  this  becomes  real  to  our 
faith  and  potent  upon  our  souls  only  when  we 
see  the  human  life  of  God,  agonizing  in  the 
garden,  tortured  in  the  judgment-hall,  and  ex- 
piring upon  the  cross.     Then  we  can  say 

"  Oh  Love  Divine  !  that  stooped  to  share 
Our  sharpest  pang,  our  bitterest  tear." 

Then  we  can  look  up  to  a  God  who  is  not  im- 
passible, as  the  speculations  of  men  have  falsely 
represented  Him,  but  passible,  and  therefore 
full  of  infinite  capacities  of  pure  sorrow  and 
saving  sympathy.^  Then  the  dumb  and  sullen 
resentment  which  rises  in  noble  minds  at  the 

,-,  1  i        £  TT    •  •  1  •    1      j^i  •  Doubts  cUs- 

thought   o±   a    Universe   m   which   there  is  so  solve  in  the 
much  heljDless  pain  and  hopeless  grief,  created  thour/ht  of 
by  an  immovable    Being   who   has   never   felt  pathy?^^^ 
and  can  never  feel  either  pain  or  grief,  —  that 
sense  of  moral  repulsion  from  the  idea  of  an 
unsuffering  and  unsympathetic  Creator  which 
is,  and  always  has  been,  the    deepest,  darkest 
spring  of  doubt,  fades  away,  and  we  behold  a 
God   who   became   human   in   order    that    He 
might  bear,  though  innocent  and  undeserving, 
all  our  pains  and  all  our  griefs. 
1  See  Appendix,  note  40. 


164  The  Human  Life  of  Crod 

The  finding        Thus  we  staiid  before  our  doubting  age,  as 
human  David  stood  before  the  disillusioned,  downcast, 

ChHst.  despondent  Hebrew  king,  in  Robert  Browning's 

splendid  poem  of  "  Saul."  The  word,  sought  in 
vain  among  the  glories  of  nature,  among  the 
joys  of  human  intercourse,  the  word  of  faith 
and  hope  and  love  and  life,  comes  to  us,  leaps 
upon  us,  flashes  through  us. 


"  See  the  King  —  I  would  help  him,  but  cannot,  the 
wishes  fall  through. 

Could  I  wrestle  to  raise  him  from  sorrow,  grow  poor 
to  enrich, 

To  fill  up  his  life,  starve  my  own  out,  I  would  —  know- 
ing which, 

I  know  that  my  service  is  perfect.  Oh,  speak  through 
me  now  ! 

Would  I  suffer  for  him  that  I  love?  So  wouldst 
Thou  —  so  wilt  Thou  ! 

So  shall  crown  Thee  the  topmost,  ineffablest,  uttermost 
crown  — 

And  Thy  love  fill  infinitude  wholly,  nor  leave  up  nor 
down 

One  spot  for  the  creature  to  stand  in !  It  is  by  no 
breath. 

Turn  of  eye,  wave  of  hand,  that  salvation  joins  issue 
with  death  ! 

As  Thy  Love  is  discovered  almighty,  almighty  be 
proved 

Thy  power,  that  exists  with  and  for  it,  of  being  be- 
loved ! 

He  who  did  most,  shall  bear  most;  the  strongest  shall 
stand  the  most  weak. 


The  Human  Life  of  G-od  165 

'Tis  the  weakness  in  strength,  that  I  cry  for !  my  flesh, 

that  I  seek 
In   the   Godhead!     1  seek  and  I  find  it.     O   Saul,  it 

shall  be 
A  Face  like  my  face  that  receives  thee;   a  Man  like 

to  me, 
Thou  shalt  love  and  be    loved    by,  forever;    a  Hand 

like  this  hand 
Shall   throw   open   the    gates   of    new    life    to    thee! 

See  the  Christ  stand  !  " 


THE  SOURCE  OF  AUTHORITY  IN 
THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN 


"  But  Thee,  but  Thee,  O  sovereign  Seer  of  time, 
But  Thee,  O  poets'  Poet,  Wisdom's  Tongue, 
But  Thee,  O  man's  best  Man,  O  love's  best  Love, 
O  perfect  life  in  perfect  labour  writ, 
O  all  men's  Comrade,  Servant,  King,  or  Priest,  — 
What  i/or  yet,  what  mole,  what  flaw,  what  lapse, 
What  least  defect  or  shadow  of  defect, 
What  rumour,  tattled  by  an  enemy. 
Of  inference  loose,  what  lack  of  grace 
Even  in  torture's  grasp,  or  sleep's,  or  death's,  — 
Oh,  what  amiss  may  I  forgive  in  Thee, 
Jesus,  good  Paragon,  thou  Crystal  Christ  ?  " 

—  Sidney  Lanier,  The  CrystaL 


THE    SOURCE    OF    AUTHORITY    IN 
THE   KINGDOM   OF   HEAVEN 

Preach  Christ,  is  the  apostolic  watchword  The  new 
that  rings  to-day,  with  all  the  force  and  charm  ^^^^^ 
of  a  new  commandment,  through  the  heart  of 
a  Church,  which  has  felt,  more  deeply  than  it 
has  yet  confessed,  the  age-pervading  chill  of 
a  winter  of  doubt  and  discontent.  The  very 
entrance  of  that  mystic  and  reviving  word  has 
already  brought  a  glow  of  enthusiasm  into  the 
Christian  life,  and  caused  new  blossoms  of  hope 
and  love,  manifold  and  beautiful  activities  of 
help  and  healing,  to  appear  in  the  earth.  It 
seems  as  if  some  fresh  and  secret  tide  of  vital- 
ity were  flowing  through  the  veins  of  Christen- 
dom, and  breaking  everywhere  towards  the 
light  in  deeds  of  charity  and  enterprises  of 
mercy.  Hospitals,  asylums,  red  cross  societies, 
rescue  missions,  salvation  armies,  spring  into 
existence  as  if  by  magic.  Never  has  there 
been  a  time  when  Christian  men  have  tried  to 
169 


170  The  Source  of  Autliority 

The  neio  ([q  go  mucli  for  their  fellow-men  in  the  name 
and  for  the  sake  of  Christ.  Never  has  there 
been  a  time  when  they  have  recognized  so 
clearly  and  fully  that  there  was  so  much  yet 
to  be  done.  It  is  an  age  of  secular  doubt,  as 
many  other  ages  have  been.  But  it  is  also  an 
age  of  Christian  beneficence,  as  hardly  any 
other  age  has  been.  And  this  beneficence  is 
not  self-satisfied  and  complacent.  It  is  self- 
reproachful,  and,  in  its  best  expressions,  nobly 
discontented  with  all  that  has  been  accom- 
plished hitherto.  It  seeks,  not  always  wisely, 
but  with  splendid  eagerness,  for  plans  which 
shall  lead  beyond  the  relief,  to  the  prevention 
of  human  suffering.  It  aims  to  bring  about 
not  only  the  immediate  mitigation,  but  also  the 
ultimate  abolition,  of  war.  It  demands  that 
charity  shall  be  translated  into  the  terms  of 
national,  as  well  as  of  individual  life.  It  will 
not  be  satisfied  until  in  some  real  and  palpable 
sense  the  kingdom  of  this  world  is  become  the 
kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  His  Christ.^ 

Christ  is  the  Now  this  renewal,  this  splendid  expansion  of 
Christian  activities,  evident  by  many  signs  to 
all  thoughtful  observers,  depends  for  its  power 
and  permanence  upon  the  setting  forth  of 
Christ,  vividly,  personally,  practically,  as  the 
1  Rev.  xi.  15. 


fountain. 


The  Source  of  Authority  171 

pattern  of  all  virtue  and  the  Prince  of  Peace 
among  men.  The  sense  of  absolute  confidence 
in  Him  as  the  perfect  example  of  goodness,  and 
of  thorough  loyalty  to  Him  as  the  Master  of 
noble  life,  is  the  hidden  reservoir  of  moral 
force.  The  organized  charities  of  Christendom 
are  the  distributing  system.  Not  more  instant 
and  more  complete  would  be  the  water-famine 
on  Manhattan  Island  if  the  great  dam  among 
the  Croton  hills  were  broken  and  all  the  lakes 
and  streams  dried  up,  than  the  drought  that 
would  fall  upon  the  beneficence  of  the  world  if 
there  were  a  sudden  break  in  the  reservoir  of 
love  and  loyalty  in  Christian  hearts  to  their 
moral  Master,  or  a  stoppage  of  the  myriad  and 
multiform  feeders  which  keep  it  full  by  preach- 
ing Christ. 

But  in  all  this  renewal  and  expansion  of  what   The  peril  of 
is  well  and  proudly  called  practical  Christianity,  Christianity. 
tliere  is,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  danger,  or  at  lea^t 
a  serious  possibility,  of  loss.     The  life  of  man 
is  not  only  practical,  it  is  also  intellectual.     His 
relations  to  his  fellow-men  are  important,  but 
his  relation  to  truth  is  no  less  important.     He 
cannot  help  acting ;  neither  can  he  help  think-     * 
ing.     When  his  thinking  is  divorced  from  his 
acting,  when  he  has  one  standard  for  truth  and 
a  different  standard  for  conduct,   he   is  like  a 


172  The  Source  of  Authority 

house  divided  against  itself.  If  the  Christian- 
ity of  to-day,  by  dwelling  exclusively  or  too 
much  on  the  ethical  side  of  the  Gospel  as  a 
beautiful  and  beneficent  rule  of  conduct  illus- 
trated by  a  perfect  Example,  tends  to  ignore  the 
intellectual  necessities  of  man  and  fails  to  real- 
ize that  it  has  a  message  to  deliver  in  the  realm 
of  truth  as  well  as  in  the  realm  of  righteous- 
ness, it  will  not  and  it  cannot  meet  the  deepest 
wants  of  the  present  age.  Indeed,  it  may  even 
aggravate  those  Avants  and  make  them  more 
painful.  It  may  seem  to  give  assent,  by 
silence,  to  the  desperate  assumption  of  scepti- 
cism that  the  unseen  world  is  unknown  and 
unknowable,  even  to  the  most  perfect  of  men. 
It  may  foster  the  sad  feeling  that  the  reality  of 
religion  is  beyond  our  reach  and  that  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  the  convenient  dreams 
of  virtue.  It  may  preach,  in  effect,  a  Christ 
whose  character  and  conduct  are  to  be  accepted 
as  infallible,  but  whose  thoughts  and  convic- 
tions in  regard  to  God  and  the  soul  and  the 
future  life  are  mere  fallacies  and  illusions. 
What  does  Preach  Christy  if  it  is  to  be  a  true  watchword 

to  preach  '     ^^^  ^ur  ministry  to  the   present  age,  must  be 
Christ?         cleared  and  vivified  and  expanded  in  our  con- 
sciousness.    We  must  know  what  we  mean  by 
it,  and  we  must  try  to  know  what  we  ought  to 


The  Source  of  Autliority  173 

mean.  We  must  ask  ourselves  again  and  again 
whether  the  thing  that  we  do  mean  is  always 
quite,  or  even  approximately,  the  thing  that  we 
ought  to  mean  when  we  use  this  precious  and 
powerful  phrase.  It  was  commonly  employed, 
say  fifty  years  ago,  to  describe  by  way  of  dis- 
tinction a  presentation  of  Jesus  which  dwelt 
chiefly  or  entirely  upon  His  death  as  the  vicari- 
ous sacrifice  for  sin.  It  is  frequently  employed 
now  as  if  it  meant  little  or  nothing  more  than 
the  graphic  description  of  Christ's  life  and 
actions  as  the  supreme  type  of  virtue  and  love. 
But  surely  to  preach  Christ  exclusively  in  either 
of  these  ways  is  to  divide  Him.  It  is  not  enough 
to  have  a  Christocentric  theology.  It  is  not 
enough  to  have  a  Christocentric  morality.  We 
must  not  only  put  Him  at  the  centre;  but  we 
must  also  draw  the  circumference  so  that  it 
shall  embrace  the  whole  of  human  life. 

If    Christ   is  the  Lamb  of   God  that  taketh  A  gospel  for 
away  the  sin  of  the  world,^  He  is  also  the  true  ^i^^^i^  ^j- 
Light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  human  life. 
into  the  world. ^     If  He  is  the  fulfilment  of  all 
dim  prophecies  of  good,  He  is  also  the  head  and 
source  of  a  new  unfolding  of  spiritual  vision. 
If  He  is  the  way  and  the  life.  He  is  also  the 
truth. 3      If  He  is  immortal  love,  regenerating 

1  St.  John  i.  29.        2  gt,  John  i.  9.        3  st.  John  xiv.  6. 


174 


The  Source  of  Autliority 


the  affections,  He  is  also  immortal  wisdom  re- 
organizing the  tliouglits,  and  immortal  power 
strengthening  the  wills,  of  men.  If  His  heart 
is  to  be  the  norm  of  our  feeling,  His  mind  is 
to  be  the  norm  of  our  thinking.  If  He  is  the 
herald  and  founder  of  a  new  and  celestial 
dominion  upon  earth,  He  is  also  the  source  of 
authority  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 


The  king- 
dom of 
heaveyi  the 
keynote  of 
ChrisVs 
teaching. 


The  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  as  an  act- 
ual reign  of  God  over  living  men,  in  which  all 
ancient  anticipations  of  good  are  accomplished 
and  a  new  state  of  virtue  and  blessedness  is  es- 
tablished on  earth,  was  foremost  and  dominant 
in  the  teaching  of  Jesus. ^  It  Avas  the  keynote 
of  His  ministry.  Everything  that  He  said, 
everything  that  He  did,  was  in  harmony  with 
this  master  thought. 

It  is  passing  strange  to  see  how  often  and 
hoAv  utterly  this  keynote  has  been  changed  in 
the  variations  which  men  have  woven  about  the 

1  The  word  "kingdom  "  is  used  in  tlie  Gospels  more  than 
a  hundred  times  to  express  the  new  condition  of  human  life 
which  Christ  came  to  announce  and  establish.  In  St. 
Matthew's  Gospel  the  favourite  phrase  is  "the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  St.  Mark  and  St.  Luke  use  "the  kingdom  of 
God." 


The  Source  of  Authority  175 

original  theme  of  Christianity  ;     and   how  far  ^alse  inter- 

^      „  ,  .  -,11  1    pretations. 

we  are,  even  yet,  irom  hearing  it  clearly,  ana 
sounding  it  with  dominant  fulness,  in  the 
music  of  religion.  At  times  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  has  been  identified  with  the  visible 
church  as  an  outward  embodiment  of  power  in 
the  world.  And  surely  this  interpretation  is 
far  enough  away  from  the  thought  of  Christ, 
who  taught  expressly  that  the  kingdom  was 
invisible  and  inward.  At  other  times  men  have 
removed  their  conception  from  the  present  to 
the  future,  and  looked  for  its  realization  in  the 
life  of  the  redeemed  after  death,  or  in  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  to  reign  in  millennial  glory. 
And  surely  this  interpretation  is  equally  remote 
from  Christ's  teaching,  at  the  very  outset  of  His 
ministry  and  all  through  its  course,  that  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  was  at  hand,  that  it  had 
already  come  near  to  man,  and  was  lying  all 
around  them,  close  to  them,  pressing  upon  them 
from  every  side  so  that  many  were  already  en- 
tering into  it  and  dAvelling  within  it.^ 

The  unreality   and   incompleteness   of  these   The  idea 

.    ,  ,    ,  .  c    ,  1        1  •        1  almost  lost. 

two  opposite    interpretations   oi   the   kingdom 

produced  their  natural  results.     The   idea  fell 

out  of  its  true  place  in  Christian  thought.     It 

became    obscure,  subordinate,   and   was   finally 

1  See  Appendix,  note  41. 


176  The  Source  of  Autliority 

almost  obliterated.  No  further  illustration  of 
this  statement  is  necessary  than  that  which 
may  be  obtained  by  consulting  one  of  the  most 
popular  aids  to  the  study  of  the  Bible  :  Talbot's 
Analysis^  revised  by  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  West, 
and  again  revised  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Roswell  D. 
Hitchcock,  and  set  forth  under  the  title  of  A 
Co7nplete  Analysis  of  the  Holy  Bible;  or^  the 
Whole  Bible  arranged  in  Subjects.^  In  the  in- 
dex to  this  work  there  is  but  one  solitary 
reference  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  When  we 
turn  to  look  at  it,  we  find  eleven  verses,  under 
the  heading  of  "  Tlie  Millennium  ;  the  Growth  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God."  The  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  dismissed  with  a  general  reference  to  the 
Parables.  To  any  one  who  is  really  familiar 
with  his  New  Testament,  the  insufficiency  of 
such  a  treatment  of  one  of  its  controlling  ideas 
must  appear  evident  and  surprising. 
The  idea  But  it  may  be  said  that  in  very  recent  times 

there  has  been  an  intense  revival  of  interest  in 
this  idea  and  an  immense  amount  of  good  work 
done  in  the  study  and  explication  of  it.  This 
is  true  and  it  should  be  gratefully  recognized. 
Such  books  as  those  which  Dr.  James  S.  Cand- 
lish  and  Professor  A.  B.   Bruce  have  written 

1  Wilmore's  New  xinalytical  Eeference  Bible  (New  York, 
1891). 


begins  to  he 
restored. 


The  Source  of  Authority  177 

upon  "  The  Kingdom  of  God,"  are  most  valua- 
ble gifts  to  Christian  literature.^  And  yet  I 
will  frankly  confess  that  these  books,  and  others 
like  them,  seem  to  me  rather  to  point  the  way 
than  to  reach  the  goal.  The  fulness  of  the 
conception  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  not 
yet  restored  in  current  theology.  Its  regnancy 
in  all  spheres  of  human  life  is  not  yet  com- 
pletely rounded.  There  is  still  a  great  deal 
of  work  to  be  done  in  this  direction  by  the 
Christian  thinker  and  the  Christian  preacher. 
The  vision  of  the  kingdom  is  obscured,  the 
proclamation  of  the  kingdom  is  weakened,  be- 
cause it  is  still  presented  too  exclusively  as 
a  kingdom  of  grace,  and  not  with  equal  em- 
phasis as  a  kingdom  of  truth :  it  is  set  up  too 
partially  as  a  standard  for  the  character  and 
conduct  of  men,  and  not  with  equal  clearness 
as  a  standard  for  their  thoughts  and  convic- 
tions. 

One  reason  of  thisone-sidedness,  it  seems  to  it  must  he 

T        •        1        p  1  1  1  •  1       i      T  studied  in 

me,  lies  m  the  fact  that  we  have  hitherto  been 


all  four 


looking  almost  entirely  to  the  first  three  Gos- 
pels as  the  source  of  our  knowledge  of  the  true 

1  The  Kingdom  of  God,  Biblically  and  Historically  Con- 
sidered, James  8.  Candlish  (Edinburgh,  Clarks,  1884).  The 
Kingdom  of  God,  or  Christ's  Teaching  according  to  the 
Synoptical  Gospels,  Alexander  Balmain  Bruce  (New  York, 
Scribners,  1889). 


178  The  Source  of  Authority 

meaning  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  But  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  if  indeed  it  be,  as  the  best 
modern  scholars  say  it  is,  "the  most  faithful 
image  and  memorial  of  Jesus  that  any  man 
could  produce,"  must  be  no  less  important,  no 
less  significant  in  the  light  which  it  throws 
upon  this  controlling  idea  of  His  mind.  And 
when  we  turn  to  study  it  with  this  aim  in  view, 
we  find  at  once  that  it  gives  us  what  we  need. 
It  completes  and  rounds  out  the  record  of  the 
three  other  Gospels.  It  answers  the  ques- 
tions which  they  suggest.  It  keeps  the  prom- 
ises which  they  seem  to  make  to  our  faith. 
And  it  is  only  when  we  take  the  fourfold 
narrative  in  its  entirety  that  we  begin  to  catch 
sight  of  the  satisfying  and  convincing  fulness 
of  the  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
The  king-  This  idea  underlies  the  whole  Gospel  accord- 

dom  in  ,  c^        -r    t  t      •  t  c        i 

St.  John.  ii^g"  to  bt.  John.  It  IS  no  less  fundamental,  no 
less  necessary  here  than  it  is  in  the  Synoptic 
Gospels.  It  is  presented  in  different  forms, 
because  the  type  of  the  writer's  mind  and  the 
purpose  of  his  book  are  different.  But  it  is 
the  same  idea.  And  this  presentation  of  it  is 
essential  to  its  completeness. 

In  the  Synoptics  we  have  the  conditions  of 
entrance  into  the  kingdom,  a  child-like  spirit,^ 
1  St.  Matt,  xviii.  3. 


The  Source  of  Authority  179 

faith,!  repentance,^  and  obedience. ^  In  St.  John  Compared 
we  have  the  spiritual  birth  by  which  alone  synoptics. 
those  conditions  are  made  possible.*  In  the 
Synoptics  we  have  the  laws  of  the  kingdom.^ 
In  St.  John  we  have  the  new  life  in  which 
alone  those  laws  can  be  fulfilled.^  In  the 
Synoptics  we  have  the  parables  and  pictures 
of  the  kingdom.'^  In  St.  John  we  have  the 
inmost  sense  of  those  parables,  spoken  directly 
to  the  soul,  in  words  of  which  Christ  Himself 
says  "they  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life."  ^  In 
the  Synoptics  we  have  the  new  order  of  human 
society  in  the  imitation  by  the  disciples  of 
Christ's  obedience  to  the  will  of  God.^  In  St. 
John  we  have  the  organizing  principle  of  that 
new  order  in  Christ's  revelation  of  Himself  to 
the  disciples  as  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life.!^  In  the  Synoptics  we  have  the  supremacy 
of  Christ's  example  over  men's  hearts.  In  St. 
John  we  have  the  supremacy  of  Christ's  teach- 
ings over  men's  minds. 

Of  course,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  either 

1  St.  Matt.  ix.  22  ;   St.  Mark      ^  St.  Matt,  xiii.,  xxi.,  xxv. ; 

X,  52.  St.  Luke  xiii.,  xvii.,  xix., 

2  St.  Luke  xiii.  3.  etc. 

3  St.  Matt.  V.  20.  8  St.  John  vi.  63;  viii.  12-5L 

4  St.  John  iii.  5.  ^  St.  Matt.  xii.  50. 

5  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  ^'^  St.  John  xiv.  6. 

6  St.  John  vi.  22-65. 


180  The  Source  of  Authority 

Both  vieivs  of  these  aspects  of  the  kingdom  is  confined  ex- 
clusively to  the  source  in  which  it  is  most  fully 
and  clearly  exliibited.^  But  this  is  what  I 
mean.  The  Synoptics  give  us  the  first  and 
simplest  description  of  the  nature  of  the  king- 
dom. St.  John  gives  us  the  fullest  and  clear- 
est revelation  of  the  mind  of  the  King.  We 
cannot  understand  the  former  without  the  lat- 
ter. We  cannot  enter  into  the  full  meaning 
of  the  initial  proclamation  of  Jesus,  when  He 
walked  beside  the  Sea  of  Galilee  crying  "  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  has  come  near,"  ^  unless  we 
go  on  with  Him  to  the  judgment-liall,  and  hear 
Him  give  His  final  answer  to  Pilate  :  "  Thou 
sayest  that  I  am  a  King ;  to  this  end  have  I 
been  born,  and  to  this  end  am  I  come  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  bear  witness  unto  the 
truth  ;  every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth 
my  voice.  "^ 

When  we  stand  at  this  point,  when  we  ac- 
cept this  declaration  as  the  key  to  unlock  and 
open  the  inmost  meaning  of  the  manifestation 
of  the  Father  in  the  human  life  of  the  Son,  we 

^  See  Bruce,  The  Kingdom  of  God,  p.  185,  on  the  personal 
claim  of  Christ  in  the  Synoptics.  See  R.  F.  Horton,  The 
Teaching  of  Jesus  (New  York,  1896) ,  pp.  219-233,  on  relation 
between  Synoptic  doctrine  of  the  kingdom  and  Johannine 
doctrine  of  eternal  life. 

2  St.  Matt.  iv.  17.  3  St.  John  xviii.  37. 


The  Source  of  Authority  181 

begin  to  apprehend  the  inexhaustible  scope  and  ^^^^  kUig- 
significance  of  our  call  to  preach  Christ  to  an  \isZ7nliTos 
age  of  doubt.  It  is  a  gospel  not  only  for  the  .9''«ce. 
affections,  but  also  for  the  intellect.  It  takes 
up  His  words  as  well  as  His  works  and  makes 
them  vital  in  the  lives  of  men.  It  conceives 
and  j)roclaims  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  some- 
thing more  than  "  the  reign  of  divine  love  ex- 
ercised by  God  in  His  grace  over  human  hearts 
believing  in  His  love  and  constrained  thereby 
to  yield  Him  grateful  affection  and  devoted 
service."  1  It  is  also  the  reign  of  divine  truth 
exercised  through  a  faithful  witness  over  the 
minds  of  men  who  submit  to  His  guidance  and 
are  led  by  Him  into  inward  peace  and  unity  of 
thought. 2  And  the  source  of  authority  in  this 
kingdom  of  heaven,  which  is  equally  a  realm  of 
truth  and  a  realm  of  grace,  is  Jesus  the  Christ, 
whose  doctrine,  as  well  as  His  example,  is  ulti- 
mate and  supreme. 

II 

Let  us  observe  in  passing  that  we  have  pre-   The  King  as 

.     1      .1  T       '     J  '^  •  1       a  teacher. 

cisely  the  same  basis  to  rest  upon  m  our  preach- 
ing of  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  as  in  our  preaching 
of  His  character  and  life.    If  historical  criticism 

1  Bruce,  The  Kingdom  of  God,  p.  40. 

2  See  Appendix,  note  12. 


182  Tlie  Source  of  Authority 

gives  us  good  reason  to  believe,  as  all  candid 
inquirers  now  admit,  that  the  four  Gospels  con- 
tain a  veritable  picture  of  an  actual  personage 
who  once  lived  on  earth,  there  is  equally  good 
reason  to  believe  that  they  have  preserved  for 
us  a  trustworthy  account  of  His  teaching  in  its 
substance  and  spirit.  If  we  can  justly  claim 
Thedoctnne  that  His  character  is  so  perfect  and  transcen- 
dent that  no  man  of  that  age,  however  gifted  or 
learned,  and  least  of  all  such  men  as  the  writers 
of  the  New  Testament,  could  possibly  have  in- 
vented it ;  we  can  make  the  same  claim,  Avith 
equal  justice,  for  the  body  of  doctrine  which 
is  attributed  to  Christ.  In  its  coherence,  its 
clarity,  its  sublimity,  and  its  universality  it 
altogether  surpasses  the  mental  abilities  and 
the  religious  insight  of  the  writers  of  the  four 
Gospels.  Indeed,  it  is  frankly  confessed  that 
the  disciples  of  Jesus  were  so  far  from  being 
able  to  invent  His  doctrine,  that  they  actually 
misunderstood  and  misinterpreted  many  of  its 
truths  when  they  first  heard  them.  It  was 
contrary  to  their  prejudices  and  expectations. 
They  did  not  put  it  into  His  mouth.  He  re- 
vealed it  to  their  minds.  Their  faitli  in  it 
rested  upon  His  personal  authority.  And  it 
was  only  as  they  kept  company  with  Him 
and    followed   Him,  receiving    His    word    into 


The  Soui'ce  of  Authority  183 

their  souls  and  translating  it  into  their  lives, 
that  it  became  to  them  luminous  and  satisfy- 
ing and  convincing. 

We  are  entitled,  or  rather  we  are  compelled,   ^'^  objective 

.          reality. 

to  regard  the  teaching  or  Jesus  as  an  objective 
fact  just  as  much  as  His  life  and  character. ^ 
The  record  of  it  bears  on  its  face  the  over- 
whelming evidence  of  verity.  All  the  results 
of  literary  criticism  are  squarely  against  the 
supposition  that  such  a  doctrine  as  that  which 
is  presented  to  us  under  His  name  in  the  four 
Gospels,  could  ever  have  been  pieced  together 
out  of  the  thoughts  and  imaginations  of  widely 
separated  and  divergent  minds,  and  attributed 
to  an  unknown  and  perhaps  mythical  Master. 
It  is  not  a  mosaic  ;  it  is  a  living  unity.  It  is 
not  a  creation  of  faith  ;  it  is  the  creator  of  faith. 
The  hypothesis  that  four  men  agreed,  or  hap- 
pened, to  gather  together  out  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets,  and  the  heathen  philosophers,  and  the 
mysterious  and  inexplicable  inner  conscious- 
ness of  the  new-born  Christian  churches,  cer- 
tain beautiful  ideas  in  regard  to  God  and  the 
soul  and  the  future  life,  and  ascribe  them  to 
Jesus,  utterly  breaks  down  at  the  touch  of  real- 
ity. The  central,  unifying,  formative  quality 
of  the  teaching  of  Christ  is  the  one  thing  that 
1  See  Appendix,  note  43. 


184  TJie  Source  of  Authority 

is  most  evident  in  the  record.  It  is  empha- 
sized by  all  the  phenomena  of  growth,  of  vital 
development,  of  deepening  power,  which  may 
be  traced  from  the  sermon  in  the  synagogue 
at  Nazareth  to  the  discourse  in  the  upper  room 
at  Jerusalem.  It  sliines  out  unmistakably 
through  all  the  living  variety  of  impressions 
which  it  made  upon  various  minds,  and 
through  all  the  consequent  many-sidedness  of 
the  report  which  is  given  of  it.  Not  more 
certainly  did  the  character  of  Christ  inspire 
and  unite  the  lives  of  His  followers  than 
His  doctrine  illuminated  and  controlled  their 
beliefs.  The  only  view  which  meets  the  facts 
is  that  Jesus  really  lived,  and  really  taught, 
thus  and  so,  as  He  is  presented  to  us  in  the 
Gospels. 
The  form  of  This  brings  us  at  once  to  the  most  important 
feature  in  the  record  of  His  teaching".  It  is  not 
given  to  us  in  the  form  of  an  abstract  system, 
a  treatise  on  theology,  or  a  summary  of  doc- 
trine, written  down  l)y  the  hand  of  Jesus.  He 
Himself  made  no  record  of  His  words.  Only 
once  do  we  see  Him  writing,  — in  the  beautiful 
episode  which  a  later  tradition  has  added  to  the 
eighth  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel.  Histori- 
cal or  not,  the  incident  is  profoundly  sugges- 
tive.    For   Jesus  Avrote    not  with  a  pen  upon 


The  Source  of  AutJiority  185 

enduring   parchment,  nor  with   a   stylus  upon 

imperishable  brass : 

"  He  stooped 
And  wrote  upon  the  unrec  .rding  ground."'^ 

He  would  not  leave  even  a  single  line  of  manu- 
script where  His  followers  could  preserve  it 
with  literal  reverence  and  worship  it  as  a 
sacred  relic.  He  chose  to  inscribe  His  teach- 
ing upon  no  other  leaves  than  those  which  are 
folded  within  the  human  soul.  He  chose  to 
trust  His  words  to  the  faithful  keeping  of 
memory  and  love  ;  and  He  said  of  them,  with 
sublime  confidence,  that  they  should  never  pass 
away. 2  He  chose  that  the  truth  which  He 
declared  and  the  life  which  He  lived  should 
never  be  divided,  but  that  they  should  go  down 
together  through  the  ages.^ 

And  this  is  precisely  what  has  come  to  pass,   inseparahh 
The  Churcli  in  past  ao^es  has  often  been  inclined  -^7"'  ^^^^ 

^  '^  character. 

to  abstract  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  concern- 
ing the  person  and  work  of  Christ  from  their 
union  with  His  human  life,  and  to  condense 
them  into  a  purely  formal  system  of  dogma  for 
the  intellect.  The  Church  in  the  present  age 
shows  at  least  a  tendency  to  separate  the  image 

1  Katrina  Trask,  "A  Night  and  Morning  in  Jerusalem" 
{Harper's  Magazine,  April,  1890). 

2  St.  Mark  xiii.  31.        2  gee  Appendix,  note  44. 


186  The  So2i7'ce  of  Authority 

of  Jesus  from  the  truths  which  He  taught,  and 
hold  Him  up  to  men  merely  as  an  ideal  of  holi- 
ness and  goodness.  But  the  one  barrier  that 
stands  firm  against  both  these  false  tendencies 
is  the  marvellous  narrative  of  the  Gospels,  in 
which  the  life  and  the  doctrine  of  Christ  are 
woven  together,  one  and  inseparable,  now  and 
forever. 
Words  and         How  cau  we  understand  His  grace,  unless  we 

life  interpret  j    tt-     j       .i    o       tt  •  tt- 

each  other,  accept  His  truth  (  How  can  we  appreciate  His 
truth,  unless  we  receive  His  grace  ?  At  every 
step,  His  action  is  interpreted  and  explained  by 
His  words. ^  He  trusts  in  Providence,  and  He 
commands  His  disciples  to  trust,  not  merely  be- 
cause submissive  confidence  is  a  beautiful  and 
happy  thing,  but  because  He  knows  and  declares 
that  God  is  really  a  Father,  worthy  to  be  trusted. ^ 
He  prays,  secretly  and  openly ;  secretly  because 
He  is  sure  that  God  hears  Him  always,  and 
openly  because  He  would  fain  give  this  as- 
surance to  others.^  He  seeks  the  sinful  and 
the  lost,  not  merely  becauise  such  a  ministry  is 
lovely  and  gracious,  but  because  He  knows  and 
declares  that  it  is  the  will  of  God,  and  that 
there  is  more  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner 
that  repenteth  than  over  ninety-and-nine  just 

1  See  Appendix,  note  45. 

2  St.  Matt.  vi.  25-30.  3  St.  John  xi.  41,  42. 


The  Source  of  Autliority  187 

men  that  need  no  repentance.^  He  cares  for 
the  bodies  of  men  and  He  relieves  their  wants, 
but  He  cares  infinitely  more  for  their  souls  and 
He  teaches  them  to  care  more,  because  He 
knows  and  declares  that  the  soul  is  immortal 
and  more  precious  than  all  that  this  world  can 
give. 2  He  moves  willingly  and  obediently  to 
the  cross,  not  because  it  is  inevitable,  not  be- 
cause resignation  is  the  crown  of  virtue,  but 
because  He  knows  and  declares  that  this  is  the 
sacrifice  appointed  for  Him  as  the  Christ,  the 
laying  down  of  His  life  as  a  ransom  for  many, 
the  lifting  up  by  which  He  is  to  draw  all  men 
unto  Himself.^  He  goes  down  into  death  with 
unshaken  courage,  not  because  it  is  a  fine  thing 
to  be  brave,  but  because  He  knoAVS  and  declares 
that  He  is  returning  to  the  Father  and  that  He 
will  bring  those  who  love  Him  to  be  with  Him 
where  He  is  forever.* 

Now  these  are  declarations  of  great  truths.    The  doctrine 
If  we  deny  them,  if  we  make  them  uncertain,   iasiso/His 
the   life  which  was   built   upon    them   has   no  conduct. 
meaning,  no  substance,  no  power  in  it.     It  be- 
comes  a   splendid   illusion,  a   heroic   mistake. 


1  St.  Luke  XV.  7. 

2  St.  John  vi.  27;    St.  Mark  viii.  3(5,  37. 

3  St.  Mark  ix  12  ;  St.  Matt.  xx.  28 ;  St.  John  xii.  32. 

4  St.  John  xiv.  1-3. 


188  The  Source  of  Aidho7'ity 

But  if  we  acce^^t  them,  then,  and  only  then, 
that  life  becomes  the  rock  of  our .  confidence, 
the  substance  of  things  hojDcd  for  and  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen.^  For  it  was  on  the 
knowledge  of  these  things  that  Jesus  actually 
founded  His  own  character  and  His  conduct. 
It  was  by  believing  thus  and  so,  and  by  living 
up  to  His  belief,  that  He  was  made  perfect. 
And  it  was  by  teaching  His  disciples  to  believe 
thus  and  so  that  He  would  bind  them  to  follow 
His  example  and  inspire  them  to  share  His  life. 
"  Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine  and 
doeth  them,  I  will  liken  liim  unto  a  wise  man 
which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock."^  "Now 
ye  are  clean  through  the  word  which  I  have 
spoken  unto  you."  "If  ye  abide  in  me,  and 
my  words  abide  in  3^ou,  ye  shall  ask  what  ye 
will  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."^ 

1  "  Niclit  das  Leben  Jesu  an  sich  in  seinem  geschiclitlichen 
Verlaufe,  sondern  die  Aiiffassung  der  religiosen  Bedeutung 
desselben,  auf  welche  die  alteste  N.  T.  liclie  Verkundigung 
ruht,  bildet  den  Ausgangspunkt  fur  die  biblische  Theologie, 
Diese  Auffassung  war  aber  zunachst  bedingt  durcli  die  Lehre 
Jesu,  sofern  dieselbe  die  autlientisclie  Erlauterung  liber  die 
Bedeutung  seiner  Person  und  seiner  Ersclieinung  gab,  und 
dalier  muss  eine  Uarstellung  dieser  Lelire  den  grundlegenden 
Abschnitt  der  biblischen  Theologie  bilden."  —  Bernhard 
Weiss,  Lehrhuch  der  Biblischen  Theologie  des  Neuen  Testa- 
ments (2te  Auflage,  Berlin,  1873),  p.  31. 

2  St.  Matt.  vii.  24.  3  gt.  John  xv.  3,  7. 


The  Source  of  Autliority  189 

in 

The   importance    which    Christ    ascribed   to   The 
His   words  as   the   authoritative  revelation  of  "^^/jf''^'^/ 

of  Christ  i 

unseen  verities  to  the  confused  and  darkened  teaching. 
minds  of  men,  cannot  be  denied  or  overlooked 
by  any  one  who  reads  the  Gospels  candidly  and 
intelligently.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  He  ex- 
pressly disclaimed  the  idea  that  His  doctrine 
was  created,  or  invented,  or  even  discovered  by 
Himself.  He  said,  "My  doctrine  is  not  mine 
but  His  that  sent  me,"  ^  "All  things  that  I 
have  heard  of  my  Father  I  have  made  known 
unto  you.  "2  But  it  is  equally  true  that  He 
claimed  an  absolute  infallibility  for  the  mes- 
sage which  was  revealed  in  Him,  committed 
unto  Him,  and  delivered  by  Him.  This  claim 
is  made  Avith  equal  force  in  the  Synoptics  and 
in  St.  John.  "No  one  knoweth  who  the  Son 
is,  save  the  Father ;  and  who  the  Father  is, 
save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son 
willeth  to  reveal  Him."^  "  We  speak  that  we 
do  know,  and  bear  witness  of  that  we  have 
seen."*  This  is  not  the  language  that  an 
honest  and  conscientious  teacher  would  use  to 
describe  his  religious  opinions  or  his  spiritual 

1  St.  John  vii.  16.  3  St.  Luke  x.  22. 

2  St.  John  XV.  15.  4  St.  John  iii.  11. 


h  is 
original. 


190  The  Source  of  Authority 

hopes.  The  wisest  and  the  best  of  men  have 
always  hesitated  to  assume  this  tone  of  cer- 
tainty in  regard  to  their  deepest  reflections 
upon  the  mysteries  of  being.  But  from  first 
to  last  this  tone  marks  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
'^  They  were  astonished  at  His  teaching  ;  for 
He  taught  them  as  having  authority,  and  not 
as  the  scribes."  1 

It  is  evident  that  He  intended  to  speak  thus. 
For  notliing  is  more  striking  in  tlie  manner  of 
His  teaching  than  the  absence  of  all  reliance 
upon  corroborative  testimony  or  traditional 
support. 2  He  did  not  seek  to  defend  His  posi- 
tions with  a  formidable  array  of  great  names. 
He  did  not  make  a  long  catena  of  quotations 
from  learned  sources.  He  gave  out  His  doc- 
trine from  the  depth  of  His  own  consciousness 
as  a  flower  breathes  perfume,  fresh,  pure,  origi- 
nal, and  convincing.  He  certainly  felt  a  Divine 
inspiration  in  the  ancient  Hebrew  Scriptures. 
The  law  and  the  prophets  conveyed  to  Him  the 

1  St.  Mark  i.  22. 

2  "  Avec  une  certitude  sereine,  qui  iie  semble  pas  terrestre, 
11  disait  ces  choses.  II  cliantait,  comme  aucun  proph^te 
n'avait  su  le  faire,  le  chant  des  revoirs  ^ternels  qui  a  berc6 
pendant  des  si^cles  les  souffrances  et  les  agonies.  Et  ce 
chant-1^,  voici  que  de  nos  jours,  au  triste  d^clin  des  temps, 
les  hommes  se  meurent  de  ne  plus  I'entendre." — Pierre 
LoTi,  La  Galilee  (Paris,  1896),  p.  94. 


The  Source  of  Autliority  191 

word  of  God.  He  used  them  on  certain  occa- 
sions to  repel  the  assaults  of  evil,  as  in  the  temp- 
tation in  the  wilderness.  He  used  them  on  other 
occasions  to  convince  and  convict  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  out  of  their  own  Scriptures. 
But  He  never  rested  upon  them  as  the  sole  and 
sufficient  basis  of  His  doctrine.  He  was  not  a 
commentator  on  truths  already  revealed.     He  ^new 

revelation 

was  a  revealer  of  new  truth.  His  teaching  was 
not  the  exposition  ;  it  was  the  text.  And  this 
higher  revelation  not  only  fulfilled,  but  also 
surpassed,  the  old  ;  replacing  the  temporal  by 
the  eternal,  the  figurative  by  the  factual,  the 
literal  by  the  spiritual,  the  imperfect  by  the 
perfect.  How  often  Jesus  quoted  from  the  Old 
Testament  in  order  to  show  that  it  w^as  al- 
ready old  and  insufficient;  that  its  forms  of 
speech  and  rules  of  conduct  w^ere  like  tlie  husk 
of  the  seed  which  must  be  shattered  by  the 
emergence  of  the  living  germ.  His  doctrine 
was  in  fact  a  moral  and  intellectual  day- 
break for  the  world.  He  did  far  more  than 
supply  a  novel  system  of  conduction  for  an 
ancient  light.  He  sent  forth  from  Himself  a 
new  illumination,  transcending  all  that  had 
gone  before,  as  the  sunrise  overfloods  the  pale 
glimmering  of  the  morning  star  set  like  a 
beacon  of  promise  upon  the  coast  of  dawn. 


192  The  Source  of  Authority 

It  is  self-  He  did  not  rely  upon  reasoning  for  the  proof 

of  His  doctrine.  He  put  no  trust  in  the  com- 
pulsion of  logic,  in  the  keenness  of  dialectics. 
We  look  in  vain  among  His  words  for  an 
exhibition  of  the  "evidences  of  Christianity." 
He  did  not  endeavour  to  demonstrate  the  ex- 
istence of  God  or  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 
What  He  said  was  meant  to  be  its  own  evi- 
dence. His  method  was  not  apologetic ;  it 
was  declaratory. 

"  He  argued  not,  but  preached,  and  conscience  did  the  rest." 

The  result  of  this  is  marvellous  and  magnifi- 
cent. His  teaching  is  cleared  and  disentangled 
from  all  that  is  temporary  and  transient  in 
human  thought.  If  He  had  reasoned  with 
men,  it  must  have  been  done  upon  the  prem- 
isses and  in  the  forms  of  philosophy  current 
in  that  age.  Otherwise  He  could  not  have 
reached  their  intelligence,  His  reasoning  would 
have  been  of  none  effect.  But  because  He 
passed  by  all  these  processes  and  left  them  on 
one  side  while  His  doctrine  moved  simply,  di- 
rectly, and  majestically  to  the  heart  of  the  truth, 
it  comes  to  us  to-day  free  and  unencumbered 
by  any  of  those  theories  of  physical  science,  of 
psychology,  of  political  economy,  which  the 
growth  of  knowledge  has  changed,  discredited. 


The  Source  of  Authority  193 


or  discarded.  His  teaching  is  neither  ancient  ^^  ^'«  ^^^- 
nor  modern,  neither  deductive  nor  inductive, 
neither  Jewish  nor  Greek.  It  is  universal, 
enduring,  valid  for  all  minds  and  for  all  times. 
There  are  no  more  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
accepting  it  now  than  there  were  when  it  was 
first  delivered.  It  fits  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  nineteenth,  as  closely  as  it  fitted  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  first,  century.  It  car- 
ries the  same  attractions,  the  same  credentials 
in  the  Western  Hemisphere  as  it  carried  in 
the  Eastern.  It  stands  out  as  clearly  from  all 
the  later,  as  it  did  from  all  the  earlier,  philoso- 
phies. It  finds  the  soul  as  inevitably  to-day 
as  it  did  at  first.  And  the  men  of  this  age 
who  hear  Christ  can  only  say,  as  His  disciples 
said  long  ago,  ''  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ? 
Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life.''^ 

And  yet  how  few  are  those  words,  compared  -^^  ^'«  «^"«^^ 

in  compass. 

With  the  utterances  oi  other  teachers.  How 
small  in  compass  is  the  doctrine  of  Jesus  as  it 
has  come  down  to  us.  Eighty  pages  of  a  duo- 
decimo book  will  hold  all  of  His  recorded  dis- 
courses and  the  story  of  His  life.  Other  words 
He  must  have  spoken  while  He  was  on  earth, 
but  I  doubt  not  that  they  moved  within  the 
same  circle.  For  even  in  the  present  record 
1  St.  John  vi.  68. 


194 


The  Source  of  Autliority 


Itsfontal 
quality. 


An  unfail- 
ing source. 


we  find  the  same  truths  recurring  again  and 
again,  expressed  in  different  Language,  arranged 
in  different  sequence,  as  the  evangelists  re- 
trace, each  from  his  own  point  of  view,  the 
memory  of  the  things  which  Jesus  taught  to 
the  multitudes  and  to  His  disciples.  The  lit- 
erature of  the  Avorld  holds  no  other  doctrine 
so  limited  in  bulk,  so  limitless  in  meaning. 

The  teaching  of  Christ  differs  from  that  of 
all  other  masters  in  its  fontal  quality.  It  is 
comprised  in  a  little  space,  but  it  has  an  infi- 
nite fulness.  Its  utterance  is  closely  bounded, 
but  its  significance  is  inexhaustible.  The 
sacred  books  of  other  religions,  the  commen- 
taries and  expositions  on  the  Christian  religion, 
spread  before  us  a  vast  and  intricate  expanse, 
like  lakes  of  truth  mixed  with  error,  stretch- 
ing away  into  the  distance,  arm  after  arm, 
bay  after  bay,  until  we  despair  of  being  able 
even  to  explore  their  coasts  and  trace  their 
windings.  When  we  come  back  to  Christ,  Ave 
find,  not  an  inland  sea  of  doctrine,  but  a  clear 
fountain  of  living  water,  springing  up  into 
everlasting  life. 

Calm,  pure,  unfathomable,  it  is  never  clouded 
and  it  never  fails.  The  inspiration  of  other 
teachers  rises  and  falls  like  an  intermittent 
spring.     To-day  it   is   brimming  full;  to-mor- 


The  Source  of  Authority  195 

row  it  is  empty  and  dry.  But  the  truth  that 
flows  from  Jesus  is  constant  and  unvarying. 
The  Spirit  always  rests  upon  Him.  The 
Father  is  always  with  Him.  Out  of  the  deep 
serenity  of  His  soul,  as  from  some  secret  vale 
of  peace  high  among  the  eternal  hills,  the  vital 
spring  of  truth  w^ells  up  forever,  and  forever 
the  crystal  stream  runs  down  to  refresh  and 
revive  the  souls  of  men. 

New  meanings  come  out  of  the  teaching  of  -Ahoays 
Jesus  in  every  land  and  in  every  age.  New 
stars  are  mirrored  in  its  de^^ths.  New  flowers 
blossom  on  its  banks.  New  fields  of  love  are 
fertilized  by  its  waters.  It  is  not  that  each 
succeeding  century  and  race  adds  something  of 
its  own  to  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  It  is  that 
each  finds  in  that  source  something  which  was 
meant  to  become  its  own,  and  so  to  satisfy  its 
deepest  needs.  The  old  questions  are  repeated 
in  new  words,  and  the  new  answer  comes  in  the 
old  words.  1  The  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  does 
not  have  to  be  changed  and  adapted  to  fit  it  for 
a  world-wide  missionary  enterprise.  It  needs 
only  to  be  purified  from  the  things  that  men 

1  "  Socrates  asked  questions  which  his  disciples  tried  to 
answer  ;  Jesus  provoked  His  disciples  to  ask  questions  which 
He  answered."  —  James  Stalker,  Imago  Christi  (New  York, 
Armstrongs,  1889),  p.  270. 


plicity  that 
is  in  Christ 


196  The  Source  of  Authority 

have  mingled  with  it,  restored  to  the  simplicity 
that  is  in  Christ,  and  it  proves  itself  as  fresh,  as 
satisfying,  as  life-bestowing  to  the  thirsty  soul 
in  America  or  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  as  it  did 
in  Galilee  or  on  the  hillsides  of  Judea. 
The  Sim-  When  we  ask  ourselves  why  it  is  that  the 

doctrine  of  the  Master  has  this  enduring,  self- 
renewing,  fontal  character,  I  think  we  must 
find  the  answer  in  the  fact  that  it  simply  bears 
witness,  with  a  directness  and  inevitableness 
altogether  unparalleled,  to  the  actual  existence 
of  a  spiritual  world  corresponding  to  the  spirit- 
ual faculties  and  aspirations  of  men.  It  does 
not  turn  aside  to  discuss  metaphysical  problems 
or  theological  subtleties.  The  distinction  be- 
tween the  natural  and  the  supernatural  does  not 
even  appear  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  There 
may,  or  there  may  not,  be  such  a  distinction. 
If  there  is.  He  at  least  does  not  think  it  impor- 
tant enough  to  speak  of  it.  The  one  thing  of 
which  He  wishes  to  make  men  sure  is  that  the 
same  God  who  sends  His  sunshine  and  His  rain 
upon  the  evil  and  upon  the  good,  the  same  God 
whose  bounty  feeds  the  birds  of  the  air  and 
clothes  the  lilies  of  the  field  with  beauty,  hears 
in  secret  the  prayers  of  the  penitent  and  believ- 
ing and  rewards  them  openly.  The  question 
of  the  how  and  the  where  of  the  life  after  death 


The  Source  of  Authority  197 

is  not  even  touched  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus. 
It  matters  little.  The  one  thing  that  He  de- 
clares with  unfaltering  certainty  is  the  reality 
of  that  life.  The  one  thing  that  He  presses 
home  upon  the  minds  of  men  with  calm  inten- 
sity is  the  danger  of  losing  it  through  sin  and 
unbelief.  The  one  thing  that  He  tenderly  and 
urgently  pleads  with  them  to  do,  is  to  make 
sure  of  its  immortal  blessedness  through  faith 
and  love  and  obedience  to  Him.  And  so,  at 
every  point.  He  passes  by  the  non-essential  to 
touch  the  essential,  He  disregards  the  passing 
curiosity  to  satisfy  the  real  anxiety.  He  neglects 
the  shadows  to  reveal  the  substance  of  the 
unseen  world. 

Teaching  like  this  is  the  only  kind  of  teach-  Words  of 
ing  that  will  always  renew  itself,  always  have 
something  more  to  bestow  upon  us.  It  cannot 
grow  obsolete.  It  cannot  be  drained  of  its  sig- 
nificance. It  is  like  life.  Nay,  it  is  life,  and  it 
gives  life. 

IV 

Let  us  understand,  then,  that  if  our  Christi-  Loyalty  to 

.    (,  T     -,  •!••<•      J        Christ's 

anity  is  to  satisfy  our  whole  nature,  it  it  is  to   teaching. 
have  its  real  and  full  meaning,  and  power  to 
bring  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  it   must   in- 
clude  this  element.     We  must  be  as  loyal  to 


198  The  Source  of  Authority 

the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  we  are  to  His  example. 
We  must  count  no  pains  too  great  to  spend 
upon  the  study  of  that  teaching  as  it  lies  in 
the  records,  and  no  effort  too  severe  to  make 
in  order  that  it  may  be  restored  in  its  integ- 
rity and  entirety,  rounded  and  harmonized, 
within  the  very  centre  of  our  minds.  And 
then  we  must  preach  it,  simply,  sincerely,  cer- 
tainly, as  the  only  doctrine  which  can  lead 
men  out  of  the  intellectual  anarchy  of  doubt 
into  the  peaceful  realm  of  truth. 
The  age  This  is  what  the  age  is  looking  and  longing 

authoritij.  ^^^'  ^^  ^an  find  no  joy  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  unless  it  finds  there  a  source  of  author- 
ity for  the  mind  as  well  as  for  the  heart.  Au- 
thority is  what  the  sociologist  demands,  in  order 
that  he  may  have  a  sure  basis  for  the  precepts 
of  altruism.  Authority  is  what  the  philosopher 
seeks,  in  order  that  he  may  have  a  fixed  point 
of  departure  and  certain  limits  of  speculation. 
Authority  is  what  the  poet  craves,  as  he  clings 
to 

"  The  truths  that  never  can  be  pi^oved, 

Until  we  close  with  all  we  loved 
And  all  we  flow  from,  soul  in  soul."  ^ 

Men  are  crying  lo  here  !    and   lo   there  !     We 
must  find   the    source    of   authority  in   an    in- 

1  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam. 


The  Source  of  Authority  199 

errant  Book,  or  in  an  enlightened  reason,  or 
in  an  infallible  Church,  or  perhaps  in  all  three  ; 
as  if  there  could  be  three  sources  of  one  author- 
ity, or  as  if  a  channel  could  ever  be  rightly 
called  a  source.  Let  us  not  hesitate  to  pass 
through  this  confusion  of  tongues  and  of  ideas, 
serene  and  untroubled,  with  the  message  of  a 
more  excellent  way. 

Christ  is  the  Light  of  all  Scripture.  Christ  C'Am^  is  the 
is  the  Master  of  holy  reason.  Christ  is  the  authority. 
sole  Lord  and  Life  of  the  true  Church.  By 
His  word  we  test  all  doctrines,  conclusions, 
and  commands.  On  His  word  we  build  all 
faith.  This  is  tlie  source  of  authority  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Let  us  neither  forget 
nor  hesitate  to  appeal  to  it  always  with  un- 
trembling  certainty  and  positive  conviction. 
If  Christ  did  not  know  and  preach  the  truth, 
then  there  is  no  truth  that  can  be  known  or 
preached.  Unless  we  are  sure  of  this,  we 
would  better  go  out  of  business  entirely.  It 
is  inconceivable  that  the  loftiest  character  in 
history  should  be  the  most  mistaken  man  that 
^ver  thought  about  the  real  basis  and  meaning 
of  life.  It  is  incredible  that  the  noblest  life 
in  the  world  should  be  founded  upon  a  faith 
that  was  vain.  It  is  impossible  that  a  supreme 
devotion  and  a  real  likeness  to  Christ  should 


200  The  Source  of  Authority 

have  been   produced   and   per]3etuated   in   the 
worki  without  a  veritable  apprehension  of  that 
which   He   knew  and   taught  concerning   God 
and  man. 
Our  great  To   have    this    apprehension    clearly    formed 

His  'creed.  witliin  US  must  be  our  ardent  and  joyful  intel- 
lectual endeavour.  We  are  not  to  rest  content 
with  the  study  of  single  words  and  separate 
phrases.  The  limitations  of  language,  the  con- 
ditions of  transmission,  will  always  expose  us 
to  error  if  we  follow  that  course.  The  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus  does  not  lie  in  fragments,  but  in 
the  rounded  whole. ^  We  must  get  back  to 
the  unity  and  integrity  of  the  thoughts  of 
Jesus,  the  creed  of  Christ.  The  broad  outline 
of  His  vision  of  tilings  human  and  divine,  the 
central  verities  which  appear  firm  and  un- 
changeable in  all  the  reports  of  His  teaching, 
the  point  of  view  from  which  He  discerned 
and  interpreted  the  mystery  of  life,  —  that  is 
what  we  must  seek.  And  Avhen  we  find  it, 
we  must  take  our  stand  there  as  men  who  feel 
the  solid  ground  beneath  their  feet.  Illustra- 
tions and  confirmations  we  may  gather  from 
science  and  history  and  philosophy.  But  the 
rock  of  certainty  is  the  mind  of  Jesus,  ex- 
pressed in  His  living  words  and  in  His  speak- 
^  See  Appendix,  note  45. 


The  Source  of  Authority  201 

ing  life.  Beyond  this  we  need  not  and  we 
cannot  go.  Here  is  the  ultimatum.  This  is 
the  truth,  we  say  to  men,  because  Jesus  knew 
it,  and  said  it,  and  lived  it. 

But  one  thing  we  may  not,  we  dare  not,  for-  We  must 
get.  The  condition  of  apprehending,  and  how  ^^  ^^^^^^  ^.^ 
much  more  of  preaching,  the  truth  revealed  by  doctrine. 
Christ  is  that  we  abide  in  Him.  The  word  of 
Jesus  in  the  mind  of  one  who  does  not  do  the 
will  of  Jesus,  lies  like  seed-corn  in  a  mummy's 
hand.  It  is  only  by  dwelling  with  Him  and 
receiving  His  character.  His  personality  so 
profoundly,  so  vitally  that  it  shall  be  with  us 
as  if,  in  His  own  words,  we  had  partaken  of 
His  flesh  and  His  blood,  as  if  His  sacred 
humanity  had  been  interwoven  with  the  very 
fibres  of  our  heart  and  pulsed  with  secret  power 
in  all  our  veins,  —  it  is  thus  only  that  we  can 
be  enabled  to  see  His  teaching  as  it  is,  and  set 
it  forth  with  luminous  conviction  to  the  souls 
of  men. 

And  if   ever  we  ourselves  become  afraid  of  Return  to 

Jesus. 
our  own  task,  and  shrink  from  it  ;  if  the  scep- 
ticism of  our  age  appalls  us  and  chills  us  to  the 
very  marrow  ;  if  Ave  question  whether  a  gospel 
so  simple,  so  absolute,  as  that  which  is  com- 
mitted to  us  can  find  acceptance  in  such  a 
world,  at  such  a  time   as  this,  —  be  sure  it  is 


202  The  Source  of  Authority 

because  we  have  gotten  out  of  fellowship  with 
Him  who  is  our  Peace  and  our  Hope,  our  Light 
and  our  Strength.  A  Cliristless  man  can  never 
preach  Christ.  We  have  been  anxious  and 
troubled  about  many  things,  and  have  forgot- 
ten the  one  thing  needful.  Peace  we  must  have 
before  we  can  have  power.  Let  us  straight- 
way return,  in  prayer,  in  meditation,  in  trust, 
in  faithful  simple-hearted  obedience,  to  Him 
who  is  the  only  centre  of  Peace  because  He  is 
the  only  source  of  authority. 

"  I  have  a  life  in  Christ  to  live, 

But  ere  I  live  it  must  I  wait 
Till  learning  can  clear  answer  give 

Of  this  and  that  book's  date? 
I  have  a  life  in  Christ  to  live, 

I  have  a  death  in  Christ  to  die ;  — 
And  must  I  wait  till  science  give 

All  doubts  a  full  reply? 

Nay,  rather,  while  the  sea  of  doubt 

Is  raging  wildly  round  about, 

Questioning  of  life  and  death  and  sin, 

Let  me  but  creep  within 

Thy  fold,  O  Christ,  and  at  Thy  feet 

Take  but  the  lowest  seat, 

And  hear  Thine  awful  voice  repeat 

In  gentlest  accents,  heavenly  sweet, 

Come  unto  IMe  and  rest ; 

Believe  Me,  and  be  blest."  ^ 

1  John  Campbell  Shairp. 


VI 
LIBERTY 


"  But,  perfect  in  every  part, 

Has  the  potter's  moulded  shape 
Leap  of  man's  quickened  heart. 

Throe  of  his  thought's  escape, 
Stings  of  his  soul  which  dart 

"  Through  the  barrier  of  flesh,  till  keen 
She  climbs  from  the  calm  and  clear 

Through  turbidity  all  between 

From  the  known  to  the  unknown  here. 

Heaven's  '  Shall  be,'  from  Earth's  '  Has  been  '? 

"  Then  life  is  —  to  wake  and  not  sleep. 

Rise  and  not  rest,  but  press 
From  earth's  level  where  blindly  creep 

Things  perfected,  more  or  less, 
To  the  heaven's  height,  far  and  steep, 

"  Where,  amid  what  strifes  and  storms 
May  wait  the  adventurous  quest. 
Power  is  Love  —  transports,  transforms 

Who  aspired  from  worst  to  best. 
Sought  the  soul's  world,  spurned  the  worms.'  " 

—  Robert  Browning,  Reverie. 


VI 
LIBERTY 

There  are  three  x^oints  at  which  the  teach-   Three  great 

,  ,      ,        problems. 

ing  of  Jesus  comes  into  closest  contact  with  the 
needs  of  the  present  age.  Three  problems  of 
profound  difficulty  are  pressing  to-day  upon  all 
thoughtful  men:  the  psychological  problem  of 
the  freedom  of  the  will;  the  theological  prob- 
lem of  the  actual  relation  of  God  to  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  the  moral  problem  of  man's  duty 
to  his  fellow-men  in  a  world  of  inequality. 
Out  of  the  depths  of  these  problems  dark  and 
multitudinous  doubts  are  forever  rising,  like 
the  clouds  of  smoke  and  steam  which  issue  from 
the  labouring  bosom  of  Vesuvius,  wdiile  sub- 
terranean thunder  is  muttering  and  rolling 
underneath.  Most  of  the  intellectual  perplex- 
ities and  practical  perils  of  our  times  come 
directly  from  these  questions,  to  which  modern 
scepticism  gives  an  answer  of  despair,  or  at 
best  only  a  dubious  and  uncertain  reply. 

But    the    gospel    of    Christ,    rightly   appre- 
hended  and   interpreted,  offers   us   a   solution 
205 


206 


Liberty 


Three  great  of  these  problems  whicli  is  full  of  liglit  and 
eru  sover-'  l^op^  and  moral  certainty.  There  is  a  breath 
eignty,  and  of  the  Spirit  in  His  teaching,  pure  and  strong, 
pouring  like  a  clean  wind  out  of  heaven,  to 
scoff  away  the  obscuring  vapours,  and  reveal  the 
changeless  verities  and  glories  of  the  spiritual 
landscape.  Three  truths  emerge  in  His  doc- 
trine, and  stand  out  clear  and  sharp  as  moun- 
tain peaks  against  the  blue  :  the  truth  of 
human  liberty,  the  truth  of  Divine  sovereignty, 
and  the  truth  of  universal  service.  Of  these 
three  truths  we  must  never  lose  sight,  if  our 
thinking  is  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  mind 
of  Jesus.  To  these  three  truths  we  must  bear 
witness,  unhesitatingly,  faithfully,  and  joy- 
fully, if  our  preaching  is  to  be  a  gospel  for 
this  age  of  doubt. 


Modern  fa- 
talism. 


No  one  who  has  looked  steadily  upon  the 
face  of  modern  life  as  it  is  reflected  in  popular 
literature  can  doubt  that  it  is  ''  sicklied  o'er " 
with  the  dark  shadow  of  fatalism.  It  is  evident 
in  the  writings  of  the  learned  and  in  the  scrib- 
blings  of  the  ignorant.  Everywhere  there  is  a 
tendency  to  explain  the  whole  life  of  man  as 
the  product  of  heredity  and  environment.  The 
student  of  physiology,  tracing  the  strange  and 


Liberty  207 

subtle  correspondence  between  the  processes  of 
consciousness  and  the  changes  and  movements 
of  the  nervous  system,  makes  the  enormous 
assumption  that  the  correspondence  amounts  to 
identity.  All  the  hopes  and  fears,  all  the  affec- 
tions and  aspirations,  which  glorify  this  mortal 
life,  are  in  their  last  analysis  the  result  of  cer- 
tain puckerings  and  tintinnabulations  of  the 
gray  matter  of  the  nerves.  The  actions  which 
flow  from  them  are  as  necessary  as  the  fall  of 
an  apple  when  the  stem  is  broken.  The  caress 
which  a  mother  gives  to  her  child,  and  the  blow 
with  which  a  murderer  strikes  his  victim  dead, 
are  equally  automatic  and  inevitable.  They  are 
the  motions  of  delicately  constructed  puppets, 
and  the  triumph  of  modern  investigation  is  the 
discovery  of  the  string  which  moves  them  and 
the  forces  which  pull  it. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  the  teachers  who  steer  Materialism 

1  1        ,  1      xi  •  1         disavowed 

US,  more  or  less  openly,  towards  this  conclu-  i^fff^^gji^ 
sion  are  careful  to  disavow  the  idea  that  they 
are  teaching  materialism.  The  name  is  highly 
unpopular  at  the  present  moment,  and  there 
is  hardly  one  of  the  men  of  science  of  to-day 
who  has  not  protested  with  indignation  that 
no  one  should  dare  to  call  him  a  materialist. 
They  have  devised  subtle  theories  of  some- 
thing   called    ''mind-stuff"    which    they   hold, 


208  Liberty 

with  W.  K.  Clifford,  "  is  the  reality  which  we 
perceive  as  matter."  They  distinguish,  with 
Huxley,  between  matter  and  force,  and  a  third 
thing  which  they  call  consciousness  and  Avhich 
they  admit  cannot  conceivably  be  a  modifi- 
cation of  eitlier  of  the  first  two  things  ;  but 
they  go  on  to  say  tliat  "  what  we  call  the 
operations  of  the  mind  are  functions  of  tlie 
brain,  and  the  materials  of  consciousness  are 
j^roducts  of  cerebral  activity."  ^  In  short,  they 
give  a  materialistic  explanation  of  the  origin 
and  processes  of  thought,  and  then  protect 
themselves  against  the  imputation  of  being 
materialists,  by  solemnly  averring  that  they 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  what  matter 
really  is,  nor  the  slightest  intention  of  sug- 
gesting that  it  has  any  resemblance  to  the 
so-called  mental  operations  which  are  prob- 
ably produced  by  one  of  its  own  forms  of 
activity. 
Responsibii-  A  scheme  like  this  certainly  has  no  room  for 
Q^f^  free-will  or  personal  responsibility.     It  makes 

a  man's  character  and  action  entirely  depen- 
dent upon  the  amount  and  quality  of  nervous 
energy  that  has  been  transmitted  to  him  by  his 
ancestors  and  developed  by  the  circumstances 
of  his  life.  He  lives,  as  Professor  Tyndall 
1  T.  H.  Huxley,  in  The  Fortnightly  Review,  vol.  xi.,  703. 


Liherty    .  209 

says,  in  a  realm  of  "  physical  and  moral  neces- 
sity,"—  though  why  he  should  be  at  pains  to 
say  "moral,"  I  can  hardly  conceive.  One  ad- 
jective would  serve  as  well  as  two,  when  they 
both  mean  the  same  thing.  It  requires  but 
a  little  exercise  of  this  nervous  energy  on  our 
part,  in  the  form  of  imagination,  to  trace  it  back 
to  its  previous  form  of  heat  stored  up  in  cer- 
tain hundredweights  of  food  and  appropriated 
by  digestion.  From  this  point  our  cerebral 
activity  skips  lightly  and  altogether  without 
volition  along  the  various  lines  of  animal  and 
vegetable  life,  of  chemical  and  physical  trans- 
formations of  energy,  until  we  arrive  at  the 
idea  of  the  sun.  From  this  idea  a  certain  un- 
controllable change  in  the  gray  substance  of 
our  brain  produces  the  further  notion  that 
the  arrangement  of  certain  quantities  of  mat- 
ter and  force  Avhich  took  place  in  some  in- 
explicable way  long  before  the  birth  of  the 
solar  system  was  really  the  thing  that  settled 
the  question  whether  you  and  I  should  prefer 
telling  the  truth  to  lying,  —  if  we  do.  Indeed, 
there  never  has  been  any  question  at  all  about 
it;  it  Avas  fixed  from  the  beginning.  We  have 
no  more  responsibility  for  it  than  we  have  for 
the  colour  of  our  eyes  or  the  shape  of  our 
noses. 


210 


Liberty 


"  Thoughts 
of  an  Au- 
tomaton.^' 


I  have  found  a  brief  and  explicit  statement 
of  the  position  to  which  this  method  of  think- 
ing forces  those  who  follow  it,  in  an  article 
ironically  entitled  "  Thoughts  of  a  Human  Au- 
tomaton" in  a  recent  English  periodical. ^ 

"  I  am  an  automaton  —  a  puppet  dangling  on 
my  distinctive  wire,  Avhicli  Fate  holds  with  an 
unrelaxing  grip.  I  am  not  different,  nor  do  I 
feel  differently,  from  my  fellow-=men,  but  my 
eyes  refuse  to  blink  away  the  truth,  which  is, 
that  I  am  an  automatic  machine,  a  piece  of 
clockwork  wound  up  to  go  for  an  allotted  time, 
smoothly  or  otherwise,  as  the  efficiency  of  the 
machinery  may  determine.  Free-will  is  a  myth 
invented  by  man  to  satisfy  his  emotions,  not 
his  reason.  I  feel  as  if  I  were  free,  as  if  I  Avere 
responsible  for  my  thoughts  and  actions,  just 
as  a  person  under  the  influence  of  hypnotism 
believes  he  is  free  to  do  as  lie  pleases.  But  he 
is  not ;  nor  am  I.  If  it  were  once  possible  for 
a  rational  being  to  question  this  fact,  the  dis- 
coveries of  Darwin  must  have  set  his  doubts  at 
rest.   .   .   . 

"  What  is  crime  ?  A  crime  is  an  action 
threatened  by  the  law  with  punishment,  says 
Kant ;     and    freedom    of    action    or    free-will 

1  Henry  Beaucliamp,  in  The  Fortnightly  Review^  English 
edition,  Marcli,  1892. 


Liberty  211 

is  a  legally  necessary  condition  of  crime.  But 
the  law  of  heredity  conclusively  demonstrates 
that  free-will  and  freedom  of  action  stand  in 
the  category  of  lively  imaginings.  Therefore 
crime,  as  the  law  understands  it,  is  non-existent, 
since  no  imputability  can  be  recognized  when  a 
man  is  not  responsible  for  his  actions.  There- 
fore the  law  is  not  justified  in  inflicting  pun- 
ishment.  .   .   . 

"  Briefly  to  conclude.  Religion  can  no  more 
mix  with  science  than  oil  with  water.  Science 
acknowledges  no  necessity  for  the  existence  of 
religion,  and  finally  severs  the  bonds  between 
morality  and  religion.  Morality,  altogether 
independent  of  religion,  is  entirely  based  upon 
self-interest.  The  suj^posed  connection  between 
religion  and  morality  is  an  illusion  most  per- 
nicious to  the  general  welfare  and  advance 
of  mankind.  Keligion,  as  a  superfluity,  should 
be  excluded  from  all  educational  institutions. 
Its  place  will  be  supplied  by  the  creed  of  scien- 
tific philosophy  —  Determinism.  The  primary 
jDrinciple  of  Determinism,  namely,  that  a  human 
being  is  an  automaton,  and  therefore  not  respon- 
sible for  his  thoughts  or  his  acts,  taken  together 
with  its  corollaries,  more  than  suffices  for  every 
intellectual  need  hitherto  provided  for  by  re- 
ligion.    For  the  two  great  factors  in  the  value 


212  Liberty 

of  religion  are  its  ethics  and  its  sedative  prop- 
erties, and  in  both  these  uses  Determinism 
displays  overwhelming  intellectual  superiority. 
Its  ethics  are  more  universal  and  its  consolation 
more  assured ;  for  they  both  rest  on  irrefraga- 
ble scientific  truth.  The  Determinist  is  con- 
sequently never  harassed  by  doubts  —  the  Rock 
of  Ages  is  fragile  compared  with  the  adaman- 
tine foundation  of  his  creed." 
The  creed  of  This  curious  claim  of  an  automaton  to  have 
a  "  creed "  Avould  be  deliciously  humorous,  if 
it  were  not  so  unutterably  sad,  and  so  detest- 
ably dangerous.  For  though,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  there  are  few  men  who  will  make,  even 
under  an  assumed  name,  such  a  candid  con- 
fession of  faith  in  their  own  moral  non-entity 
as  that  which  we  have  just  read,  there  are  many 
men  who  are,  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
preaching  the  same  black  creed  of  Necessity 
in  the  subtle  forms  of  literary  art,  and  multi- 
tudes who  are  silently  accepting  it  as  gospel 
truth.  Fatalism  broods  over  modern  fiction 
and  the  modern  drama  like  a  huge,  shapeless 
spectre;  and  its  influence  is  felt  in  all  the 
judgments  and  conceptions  and  unspoken  but 
clearly  revealed  sentiments  of  a  society  which 
finds  its  chief  intellectual  pabulum  in  novels 
and  plays 0 


Liberty  213 

Here  is  the  famous  French  realist,  Zola,  of  ''The 
whose  books  it  is  said  that  enough  have  been  ^"'""f, 

^  Beast." 

sold  to  build  a  pile  as  high  as  the  Eiffel  tower. 
He  writes  a  novel  called  La  Bete  Humaine,  in 
which  he  shows  how  unswervingly  the  lines  of 
evil  run  through  the  plan  of  life.  He  describes 
seven  inevitable  murders,  occurring  within  eigh- 
teen months  in  close  connection  with  a  certain 
fated  house,  and  closes  his  book  with  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  railway  train,  crowded  with  soldiers, 
dragged  by  an  engine  whose  driver  has  been 
killed,  dashing  at  headlong  speed  into  the  mid- 
night. The  train  is  the  world ;  we  are  the 
freight  ;  fate  is  the  track ;  death  is  the  dark- 
ness ;   God  is  the  engineer,  —  who  is  dead.^ 

Here  is  the  leader  of  the  Dutch  Sensitivists,  ''Footsteps 
Louis  Couperus,  who  writes  a  romance  called 
Noodlot^  "  Destmy,''  in  which  four  human  lives 
are  tangled  together  in  an  inextricable  and  hor- 
rible coil.  One  of  his  characters  pauses  for  an 
instant  in  the  shameful  career  to  which  he  is 
impelled.  "  He  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair, 
still  feebly  wringing  his  hands,  and  the  tears 
trickled  again  and  again  down  his  cheeks.  He 
saw  his  own  cowardice  take  shape  before  him. 
He  stared  into  its  frightened  eyes,  and  he  did 
not  condemn  it.  For  he  was  as  fate  had  made 
1  See  Appendix,  note  46. 


214 


Liberty 


'Ghosts. 


The  small 
fatalists. 


him.  He  was  a  craven,  and  lie  could  not  help 
it.  Men  called  such  an  one  as  he  a  coward  ;  it 
was  but  a  word.  Why  coward,  or  simple  and 
brave,  or  good  and  noble  ?  It  was  all  a  matter 
of  convention,  of  accepted  meaning  ;  the  whole 
world  was  mere  convention,  a  concept,  an  illu- 
sion of  the  brain.  There  was  notliing  real  at 
all  — nothing  !  "i 

Here  is  the  Norse  dramatist,  Ibsen,  —  the 
new  Shakespeare  by  the  grace  of  heredity.  He 
writes  a  drama  of  life  which  he  calls  Ghosts, 
and  shows  how  every  player  is  haunted  by  dead 
ancestors  who  look  through  his  eyes,  speak  in 
his  words,  and  act  in  his  deeds.  Echoes  of 
spent  passion,  shreds  and  patches  of  worn-out 
sin,  rags  and  tatters  of  the  past,  —  that  is  the 
stuff  of  which  life  is  fabricated,  like  a  piece  of 
shoddy  cloth,  in  the  great  mill  of  circumstance 
which  stands  on  the  banks  of  the  river  of  time 
and  turns  out  the  shabby  lives  of  men  and 
women. 2 

Nor  is  this  view  of  life  confined  to  the  great 
foreign  masters  of  realism.  It  pervades  almost 
all  the  minor  schools  of  fiction  ;  it  diffuses  it- 
self insensibly  through  the  work  of  the  feeble 
and  fatuous  imitators.     A  keen  and  wholesome 


1  Louis   Couperus,    The   Footsteps  of  Fate  (New  York, 
Appletons),  p.  05.  '-^  See  Appendix,  note  47. 


Liberty  215 

critic  of  our  own  literature,  Mr.  Charles  Dudley 
Warner,  put  his  finger  upon  the  fact  when  he 
wrote  :  "  It  has  come  about  that  the  novels  and 
stories  which  are  to  fill  our  leisure  hours  and 
cheer  us  in  this  vale  of  tears  have  become  what 
we  call  tragic.  It  is  not  easy  to  define  what 
tragedy  is,  but  the  term  is  applied  in  modern 
fiction  to  scenes  and  characters  that  come  to 
ruin  from  no  particular  fault  of  their  own, — 
not  even  when  the  characters  break  most  of  the 
ten  commandments,  —  but  by  an  unappeasable 
fate  that  dogs  and  thwarts  them.  This  is  the 
romance  of  fatality,  and  if  it  is  tragedy,  it  is 
the  tragedy  of  fatalism."  ^ 

It  is  not  j)0ssible  that  such  a  theory  of  ex- 
istence should  prevail  without  bringing  sadness  Melancholy 
and  heaviness  into  the  hearts  of  men.  The 
modern  melancholy  of  which  we  spoke  in  the 
first  lecture  is  largely  the  result  of  this  gen- 
eral sense  of  a  godless  predestination.  It  is 
Calvinism  with  the  bottom  knocked  out.  It 
robs  life  of  all  interest,  of  all  joy,  of  all  en- 
thusiasm. Was  it  morphine  that  drove  Guy  de 
Maupassant,  the  most  brilliant  of  the  younger 
French  novelists,  to  insanity  ?  Or  was  it  his 
philosophy  that  drove  him  to  morphine  as  a 
refuge  from  the  despair  and  ugliness  of  exist- 
1  See  Appendix,  note  48. 


216  Liberty 

ence  ?  Pessimism  exudes  from  fatalism  like 
sepia  from  the  cuttlefish. ^  What  could  be 
more  dispiriting  than  to  doubt  the  reality  of 
all  effort,  to  deny  the  possibility  of  self -con- 
quest and  triumph  over  circumstances,  to  find 
heroism  an  illusion  and  virtue  a  dream?  What 
could  break  the  spring  of  life  more  completely 
than  to  feel  that  our  feet  are  tangled  in  a  net 
whose  meshes  were  woven  for  us  by  our  ances- 
tors, and  for  them  by  tailless  apes,  and  for  them 
by  gilled  amphibians,  and  for  them  by  gliding 
worms,  and  for  them  by  ciliated  larvae,  and  for 
them  by  amcebse,  and  for  them  by  God  does 
not  know  what  ?  ^  It  does  not  help  the  case 
in  the  least  to  do  as  some  theoloo^ians  have 
tried  to  do  and  bring  back  into  the  theory  by 
the  aid  of  certain  misconstrued  and  very 
much  overworked  j)assages  of  Scripture,  the 
idea  of  a  supreme  Deity  Avho  has  constructed 
the  loom  and  devised  the  pattern  of  the  net 
and  decreed  the  weaving  of  every  loop.  The 
chain  of  Fate  is  not  made  less  heavy  by  fasten- 
ing the  end  of  it  to  the  distant  throne  of  an 
omnipotent  and  impassive  Creator.  If  our 
false  sense  of  freedom  comes  from  such  a  Be- 
ing, who  is  Himself  free,  it  is  all  the  more  a 
cruel  and  bitter  enigma.  If  moral  responsi- 
1  See  Appendix,  note  40.  2  gee  Appendix,  note  50. 


Liberty  217 

bility  has  been  imposed  upon  us  by  the  same 
hand  which  has  bound  us  to  an  inalterable 
destiny,  it  is  all  the  more  a  crushing  and  mis- 
erable   fraud.      To    baptize    fatalism    Avith    a  Baptized 

,  .,  .  fatalism. 

Christian  name    does    not    change    its    nature. 

To  hold  fast  to  the  metaphysical  conception  of 
God  while  accepting  Heredity  and  Environment 
as  His  only  and  infallible  prophets  is  simply  to 
add  a  new  ethical  horror  to  the  dismal  delusion 
of  life,  and  to  revolt  to  the  pessimism  of  Omar 
Khayyam. 

"  We  are  no  other  than  a  moving  row 
Of  Magic  Shadow-shapes,  that  coine  and  go 
Kound  with  this  Snn-iUumined  Lantern,  held 
In  Midnight  by  the  Master  of  the  Show ; 

"  Impotent  Pieces  of  the  Game  He  plays 
Upon  this  Checker-board  of  Nights  and  Days; 
Hither  and  thither  moves,  and  checks,  and  slays, 
And  one  by  one  back  in  the  Closet  lays. 

"  The  Moving  Finger  writes ;  and,  having  writ, 
Moves  on ;  nor  all  your  Piety  nor  wit 
Shall  lure  it  back  to  cancel  lialf  a  Line, 
Nor  all  your  tears  wash  out  a  Word  of  it. 

"  And  that  inverted  Bowl  they  call  the  Sky, 
Whereunder  crawling  coop'd  we  live  and  die, 
Lift  not  your  hands  to  It  for  help— for  it 
As  impotently  rolls  as  you  or  I."i 

1  Buhaiydt  of  Omar  Khayyam.  Rendered  into  English 
verse  by  Edward  Fitzgerald,  with  an  accompaniment  of  draw- 
ings by  Elihu  Vedder  (Boston,  188-4),  stanzas  72,  73,  75,  76. 


218 


Liberty 


II 


Is  determin- 
ism proved  ? 


Philosophy 
says  710. 


This  is  the  solution  which  modern  positivism, 
christened  or  unchristened,  offers  for  the  prob- 
lem of  the  freedom  of  the  will.  Before  we 
turn  to  consider  the  very  different  answer 
which  Christ  gives  to  the  same  question,  let 
us  stay  for  a  moment  to  ask  whether  this 
current  and  popular  solution  is  of  tlie  nature 
of  a  demonstration,  or  of  the  nature  of  a  doubt. 
Is  it  so  clearly  proven  that  science  forces  us 
to  accept  determinism  ?  Or  is  it  an  unveri- 
fiable  assumption,  which  is  made  under  tlie 
influence  of  a  general  scepticism  in  regard  to 
spiritual  realities,  and  which  leaves  out  of 
view  quite  as  many  and  quite  as  important 
facts  as  those  which  it  professes  to  explain? 
Are  we  compelled  to  admit  it ;  or  is  it  only  one 
of  two  alternatives,  neither  of  which  is  scientifi- 
cally demonstrable,  so  that  the  choice  between 
them  must  rest  upon  other  considerations? 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  whole  weight 
of  sober  and  sane  criticism  inclines  to  the  lat- 
ter conclusion.  Determinism  has  not  yet  been 
established  either  by  physiological,  psychologi- 
cal, or  metaphysical  argument. 

The  common  assumption  that  the  abstract 
reasoning    of    Jonathan    Edwards    against    the 


Liberty  219 

liberty  of  the  will  has  never  been  and  cannoc 
be  refuted,  is  based  upon  ignorance  of  the  facts. 
An  American  philosopher,  Mr.  Rowland  Haz- 
ard, has  ansAvered  it  with  great  clearness  and 
force.  Professor  George  P.  Fisher  says  :  "  The 
fundamental  point  of  Mr.  Hazard's  criticism 
of  Edwards  is  fully  established.  It  must  be 
allowed  that  his  confutation  of  that  conception 
of  the  wdll  which  underlies  the  reasoning  of  the 
great  theologian  is  sound  and  conclusive."^ 

The  support  which  modern  science  is  sup-  Science  sctys 
posed  to  give  to  the  theory  of  determinism 
turns  out,  upon  closer  examination,  to  be  alto- 
gether illusory.  The  soundest  and  most  care- 
ful investigators  utterly  decline  to  commit 
themselves  to  that  metaphysical  dogma,  or  to 
bind  out  science  as  a  maid-of-all-work  in  the 
service  of  fatalistic  theology. 

The  most  distinguished  of  living  English  Free-ioUia 
scientists  recently  said :  "  The  influence  of  jj^iracie. 
animal  or  vegetable  life  on  matter  is  infinitely 
beyond  the  range  of  any  scientific  inquiry 
hitherto  entered  on.  Its  power  of  directing 
the  motions  of  moving  particles,  in  the  demon- 
strated daily  miracle  of  our  human  free-ivill^  and 

1  Rowland  Hazard,  Freedom  of  3Iind  in  Willing  (Boston, 
Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  1889).  Introduction  by  George  P. 
Eislier,  p.  xxxi. 


220  Liberty 

in  the  growth  of  generation  after  generation  of 
plants  from  a  single  seed,  are  infinitely  dif- 
ferent from  any  possible  resnlt  of  the  fortui- 
tous concourse  of  atoms.  The  real  phenomena 
of  life  infinitely  transcend  human  science."  ^ 
The  theory  that  consciousness  is  a  function  of 
the  brain  breaks  down  completely  when  it 
attempts  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  sleep. 
Why  should  all  the  other  functions  of  the 
body  be  carried  on  without  fatigue  and  Avith- 
out  interruption  while  this  alone  demands  rest 
and  admits  of  intervals  of  cessation  ?  If  con- 
sciousness is  a  function  of  nerve-matter,  sleep 
abolishes  it.  How  does  it  come  back  again 
without  losing  the  sense  of  personal  identity? 
Thought  is  Is  it  Conceivable  that  the  highest  character, 
the  loftiest  genius,  is  purely  an  intermittent 
secretion  of  certain  nerve-cells,  and  that  dur- 
ing the  hours  of  sleep,  embracing  one-third  of 
its  entire  history,  it  is  absolutely  non-existent  ? 
''  Function,"  says  an  eminent  neurologist,  "  is 
a  physiological  term,  and  it  is,  I  submit,  im- 
proper to  speak  of  states  of  consciousness  as 
being  functions  of  the  brain.  ...  It  is  not 
the  mind,  but  the  physical  basis  of  mind,  which 
is  a  product  of   physical   evolution.     It  is  the 

1  Lord  Kelvin  (Sir  William  Thomson),  in  The  Fortnightly 
Hevieio,  March,  1892. 


not  a  secre- 
tion. 


the  organ  of 
the  mind. 


Liberty  221 

organ  of  mind,  not  the  mind  of  itself,  wliich 
being  an  evolution  out  of  the  rest  of  the  body 
is  representative  of  it."^ 

The  fact  that  the  brain  is  a  double  organ,  —  The  brain 
that  there  are  really  two  brains,  only  one  of 
which  is  used,  —  cannot  be  explained  on  the 
theory  that  consciousness  is  merely  the  result 
of  the  vibration  of  nerve  filaments,  as  the  music 
of  the  JEolian  harp  is  the  result  of  the  pas- 
sage of  the  wind  over  its  strings.  A  distin- 
guished physiologist  has  cleverly  shown  that  if 
this  Avere  the  case  a  double  brain  would  mean 
a  double  amount  of  thought,  just  as  twice  the 
number  of  strings  would  mean  twice  the  quan- 
tity of  music. 2  But  the  fact  that  this  is  not  so, 
points  clearly  to  the  hyj^othesis  that  the  brain 
is  not  an  ^olian  harp  helplessly  vibrating 
under  external  impulses,  but  a  double  organ 
with  two  sets  of  keys,  and  the  mind  is  like  the 
player  who  can  use  either  one  of  them  to  make 
the  music.  And  this  corresponds  closely  with 
our  own  sense  of  the  process.  For  we  are 
conscious   not    only   of    passive    thoughts   and 

1  Dr.  J.  Hughlings  Jackson,  "Lecture  on  the  Comparative 
Study  of  Diseases  of  the  Nervous  System  "  (British  Medical 
Journal,  August  17,  1889). 

2  Dr.  William  H.  Thomson,  Materialism  and  Modern 
Fhysiologij  of  the  Nervous  System  (New  York,  Putnams, 
1892),  pp.  S3  if. 


222  Liberty 

feelings,  evoked  witliin  us  by  external  causes, 
but  also  of  thoughts  and  feelings  voluntarily 
directed  and  combined,  woven  together  in  crea- 
tive harmonies,  and  moving  under  the  guidance 
of  chosen  ideals  towards  a  symphonic  complete- 
ness. Even  the  sense  of  discord  and  conflict 
which  often  rises  within  us  is  an  evidence  that 
there  is  a  player  as  well  as  an  instrument.  For 
it  is  inconceivable  that  an  ^olian  harp,  ill- 
strung,  should  dislike  its  own  bad  music,  and 
endeavour,  or  think  that  it  could  endeavour,  to 
make  a  better,  sweeter  sound. 
Hereditijnot  Heredity  is  undoubtedly  a  real  and  power- 
ful force.  It  supplies  the  outfit  of  life.  But 
does  it  determine  the  use  which  we  shall  make 
of  it  ?  The  very  extension  of  the  doctrine 
by  the  investigations  of  science  dissolves  this 
narrow  and  absolute  conclusion.  We  inherit 
from  thousands,  from  hundreds  of  thousands, 
of  ancestors.  The  blood  of  many  families  and 
tribes  and  races  is  mingled  in  our  veins. 
What  is  it  that  decides  which  of  these  many 
lines  we  shall  follow  ?  It  must  be  either  blind 
chance  or  free  choice.  All  the  phenomena  of 
society,  all  the  facts  of  consciousness,  are  in 
favour  of  the  latter  supposition.  We  see  men 
whose  heritage  is  of  the  lowest  and  the  worst, 
working   their   way  up,  by  sheer   strength   of 


final. 


Liberty  228 

moral   choice    and   effort,  to   a   higher   plane. ^ 

We  see  men  whose  heritage  is  of   the  loftiest 

and  the  best,  declining 

"thro'  acted  crime, 
Or  seeming-genial  venial  fault, 
Recm-ring  and  suggesting  still,"  2 

to  the  very  depths  of  infamy.  It  is  true  that 
a  man  cannot  bring  out  of  himself  anything 
that  is  not  already  there.  But  it  is  true  also, 
by  virtue  of  heredity,  that  there  are  many 
potential  men  in  every  man,  and  which  of  them 
is  to  emerge,  he  chooses  for  himself  by  a  thou- 
sand silent  moral  preferences  ;  by  yielding  or 
by  resisting;  by  the  cowardice  and  corruption, 
or  by  the  courage  and  purification  of  his  own 
free-will. 

Even  those  who  write  of  human  life  from  a  Moral judg- 
professedly  naturalistic  stand]:)oint    cannot  pfet  ^^^^'^^^ 

^  J  10         assume 

rid  of  this  conviction.  Take  Zola,  for  examjjle.  liberty. 
If  he  were  consistent,  he  would  speak  with 
equal  and  impassive  coldness  of  all  his  charac- 
ters, tangled  together  in  the  inextricable  toils 
of  heredity.  But  he  cannot  help  letting  his 
hatred  and  contempt  for  the  selfish,  the  luxu- 
rious, the  vicious,  express  itself  in  the  very 
accent  with  whicli  he  describes  them.  He 
cannot  help  showing  his  admiration  and  affec- 
1  See  Appendix,  note  51.  ^  Tennyson,  [Will.'] 


224  Liberty 

tion  for  those  who,  like  Denise  and  Doctor 
Pascal^  and  Clotilde,  rise  out  of  the  infamy 
which  envelops  the  family  Rougo7i-Macquart. 
Virtue  and  vice  may  be  scientifically  treated 
as  if  they  were  merely  natural  products  like 
sugar  and  vitriol  ;  but  when  we  come  to  talk 
of  them  from  a  human  and  humane  standpoint, 
there  is  something  within  us  which  demands 
that  we  shall  recognize  a  merit  in  being  virt- 
uous, and  a  shame  in  being  vicious,  —  qualities 
which  can  never  belong  to  mere  secretions, 
whether  of  plants  or  of  nerves,  —  qualities 
which  have  no  possible  meaning  •  unless  there 
is  a  free-will  in  man,  capable  of  choosing  be- 
tween the  evil  and  the  good. 

Now  that  a  free-will  is  possible,  modern  psy- 
chology assures  us,  as  the  result  of  its  latest  re- 
psijchology.  searches.  It  does  not  attempt  to  demonstrate 
the  existence  of  such  a  power  by  physiological 
investigation.  It  confesses  that  this  demon- 
stration is  impossible  with  our  present  know- 
ledge. But  it  declares  with  equal  candour  that 
the  contrary  attempt  to  show  that  the  sense  of 
freedom  is  a  delusion,  is  inconclusive.  ''  The 
last  word  of  psychology  here,"  says  Professor 
William  James,  "  is  ignorance,  for  the  forces 
engaged  are  too  delicate  and  numerous  to  be 
followed   in   d.etaiL"     He   points    out   the  ex- 


The  testi 
mo7iy  of 
modern 


Liberty  225 

tremely  reckless  and  inconsequent  nature  of 
the  reasoning  by  which  the  determinists  seek 
to  make  mere  analogies  draAvn  from  the  course 
of  rivers,  and  reflex  actions,  and  other  material 
phenomena,  serve  as  proofs  that  the  will  is  a 
mechanical  effect.  He  ex]30ses  the  bold  as- 
sumption by  which  they  ignore  the  testimony 
of  consciousness  in  the  presence  of  feeling  and 
effort.  He  shows  that  the  utmost  which  any 
argument  for  determinism  can  do  is  to  present 
a  possible  hypothesis,  which  a  man  who  has 
already  determined  to  hold  fast  to  the  idea 
that  the  whole  universe  is  one  chain  of  inevi- 
table causation  may  accept  if  he  likes.  But 
meanwhile  the  other  alternative  stands  equally 
open.  The  moral  arguments  all  point  in  that 
direction.  The  only  course,  in  such  a  situa-  Free-wUHs 
tion,  is  voluntary  choice.  "For  scepticism  it-  ^^^^^^ 
self,  if  systematic,  is  also  voluntary  choice.  If, 
meanwhile,  the  will  be  indetermined,  it  would 
seem  only  fitting  that  the  belief  in  its  inde- 
termination  should  be  voluntarily  chosen  from 
amongst  other  possible  beliefs.  Freedom's 
first  deed  should  be  to  affirm  itself.  .  .  . 
Thus  not  only  our  morality  but  our  religion, 
so  far  as  the  latter  is  deliberate,  depends  on 
the  effort  Avhich  we  can  make.  ^Will  you  or 
wonH   you    have    it   so  ? '    is   the    most   probing 

Q 


226  Liberty 

question  we  are  ever  asked :  we  are  asked  it 
every  hour  of  the  day,  and  about  the  largest 
as  well  as  the  smallest,  the  most  theoretical  as 
well  as  the  most  practical,  things.  We  answer 
by  conseyits  or  non-consents^  and  not  by  words. 
What  wonder  if  these  dumb  responses  should 
seem  our  deepest  organs  of  communication 
with  the  nature  of  things  !  What  wonder  if 
the  effort  demanded  by  them  should  be  the 
measure  of  our  worth  as  men !  What  wonder 
if  the  amount  which  we  accord  of  it  be  the 
one  strictly  underived  and  original  contribu- 
tion which  we  make  to  the  world  !  "  ^ 


III 

Christ  says        Here,  then,  modern    science,  careful,   exact, 

liberty  is  ,  t   j  •  •  i      i    j«  i 

real  reverent,  as   distinguished  irom  modern   scep- 

ticism, leaves  us  before  the  two  doors.  And 
here  Christ  comes  to  us,  calling  us  to  enter 
through  the  door  of  liberty  into  the  pathway  of 
eternal  life.  "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you; 
seek  and  ye  shall  find;  knock  and  it  shall  be 
opened  unto  you."^  "If  any  man  willeth  to 
do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  teaching.  "^ 


1  William  James,  Psychology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  579.      See  Ap- 
pendix, note  52. 

2  St.  Matt.  vii.  7.  s  St  John  vii.  17. 


Liberty  227 

The  whole  life   and_  mmistry   of  Jesus  is   a   ^^^^  ^^f^  ^f 
revelation   of   moral   freedom. i      His    entrance  revelation  oj 
into  the  world  was   voluntary.     His   continu-  Me-wiii. 
ance  in  jiuman  life  was  voluntary.     His  death 
was  voluntary.     At  the  first  crisis  of  His  rife~TL_ 
He  chose  to  go  about  His  Father's  business. 
In  the  temptation  He  chose  to  resist  the  allure- 
ments of   the   Evil  One.     On   the  way  to  the 
cross    He  chose  not   to   call   on   God   for   the 
deliverance   wdiich   He   knew   would   come    in 
answer  to  His  call.     He  was,  indeed,  fulfilling    ^"^^ 
an   appointed   task,   treading   the   path   which 
had  been    marked    out    for    the    feet   of    the 
Christ ;  b^utJHe  was  fulfilling  the  task  freely; 
He  was  walking  in  liberty  because  He  loved 
to  do  the  will  of  God.     The  triumph  of  His 
virtue  lay  in  the  freedom  of  His  choice. 

There  was  a  singular  propriety  in  the  text  of   Thepreach- 
His  first  public  discourse.     It  Avas  a  declaration  ^alospeTof' 
of  liberty,  as  well  as  of  grace.    It  was  an  eman-  Hherty. 
cipation  proclamation  as  well  as  a  gospel  of  com- 
fort and  hel23.     ''  The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon    d-^ 
me,  because  He  anointed  me  to  preach  good 
tidings  to  the  poor;   He  hath  sent  me  to  pro- 
claim release  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of 
sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that 
are  crushed,  to  j^roclaim  the  acceptable  year  of 
1  See  Appendix,  note  53. 


228  Liberty 

the  Lord."!  And  what  was  the  oppressive 
bondage  from  which  He  proclaimed  release? 
Was  it  not  the  tyranny  of  a  false  doctrine  of 
necessity  over  the  minds  of  men,  as  well  as  the 
enslaving  influence  of  sin  over  their  inert  and 
hopeless  wills? 
The  Fhari-  Here  were  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  teach- 
Fate.  '  ^^^o  ^^^'^^  ^^^®  whole  world  was  divided  into 
two  classes, — the  chosen  and  the  not-chosen,  the 
righteous  for  whom  salvation  was  secure  what- 
ever they  might  do,  and  the  sinners  for  whom 
salvation  was  impossible  whatever  they  might 
do.  Here  were  the  outcast,  the  lost,  the  neg- 
lected, shut  out,  by  no  choice  of  their  own,  but 
by  their  birth,  by  the  occupations  in  which 
they  were  engaged,  by  their  ignorance,  by  the 
very  conditions  of  their  life,  from  all  part  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  conceived  it ;  not  only  the  harlots 
and  the  publicans,  but  also  Am  Haarez^  "the 
people  of  the  land,"  with  Avhom  it  was  not  fit- 
ting tliat  a  righteous  person  should  have  any 
dealings ;  ^  miserable  souls,  bound  by  inheri- 
tance to  a  desperate  and  unhallowed  fate.  Here 
came  Jesus,  taking  His  way  directly  to  these 
r  lost  ones,  these  outsiders,  and  telling  them  that 
all  this  doctrine  of  inevitable  doom  was  a  chain 
1  St.  Luke  iv.  18.  2  Bruce,  Kingdom  of  God,  145. 


Liberty  229 

of  lies,  breaking  the  imaginary  fetters  from  Jesus  taught 
their  souls  and  assuring  them  by  His  first 
word  that  they  were  free,  even  though  they 
were  ignorant  of  it.  "Repent,"  He  cried,  "for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  has  approached  unto 
you."i  "Except  ye  be  converted  and  become 
as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  "^  And  what  is  the  signifi- 
cance of  these  words,  "repentance"  and  "con- 
version," —  their  real  significance,  I  mean,  not 
that  which  has  been  read  into  them  by  centuries 
of  false  and  formal  theology?  They  are  not 
passive  and  involuntary  words ;  they  do  not  rest 
upon  the  idea  of  qualifications  which  may  or 
may  not  be  in  the  possession  of  those  to  whom 
Christ  speaks.  They  are  active  words,  —  words 
of  iuAvard  movement  and  exertion.  "  Repent " 
means  change  your  mind ;  make  that  simple 
effort  of  the  soul  for  internal  change  which 
is  the  ultimate  act  of  the  free  will ;  ^  put  forth 

1  St.  Matt.  iv.  17. 

2  St.  Matt,  xviii.  3. 

3  "  Every  intelligent  being,  capable  of  conceiving  of  higher 
ethical  conditions  than  he  has  yet  attained,  has  in  his  own 
moral  nature  for  the  exercise  of  his  creative  powers  an  infi- 
nite sphere,  within  which  ...  he  is  the  supreme  disposer. 
...  A  man  who  does  not  want  to  be  pure  and  noble,  may  yet 
begin  one  step  lower  in  the  scale  of  moral  advancement,  with 
the  wish  to  want  to  be  pure  and  noble  ;  and,  here  commenc- 
ing the  cultivation  of  his  moral  nature,  ascend  from  this  lower 


free 


230  Liberty 

that  power  of  fixed  attention  to  tlie  new  motive 
which  is  the  central  essence  of  liberty  and  the 
creative  force  of  the  soul.^  "Be  converted," 
as  Christ  spoke  the  word,  is  not  passive ;  it 
expresses  an  action  exercised  by  the  soul  within 
itself  ;  it  means  simply  ''  turn  around "  ;  set 
yourself  in  a  new  relation  to  God,  to_  truth,  to 
Faith  IS  virtue.  The  name  of  this  relation  is  faith. 
"  Believe "  is  Christ's  great  word.  It  is  the 
'•  open  sesame  "  of  the  kingdom.  "  Believe  in 
God,  believe  also  in  Me."  ^  "  He  that  believeth 
hath  everlasting  life."  ^  "All  things  are  possible 
to  him  that  believeth."  *  But  it  is  never  spoken 
of  as  a  mere  intellectual  opmion,  or  emotional 
experience,  an  irresistible  conviction  wrought 
by  external  evidence  in  the  mind,  or  bestowed 
without  effort  upon  the  soul.  The  Bible  never 
says  that  faith  is  a  gift.  There  is  a  voluntary 
element  in  it.  It  is  something  to  be  done  by  ^ 
the  exercise  of  an  inward  power.  It  is  a  com- 
ing of  the  soul  to  Christ ;  it  is  a  following  of  the 

point,  through  the  want  to  be  pure  and  noble,  to  the  free  effort 
to  gratify  this  want."  —  Rowland  Hazard,  Freedom  oj 
Mind  in  Willing,  "Of  Effort  for  Internal  Change"  (Bos- 
ton, Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  1889),  chap.  xiv. 

1  "The  essential  achievement  of  the  will  when  it  is  most 
'  voluntary,'  is  to  attend  to  a  difficult  object  and  hold  it  fast 
before  the  mind." — James,  Psychology,  vol.  ii.,  p.  561. 

2  St.  John  xiv.  1.    3  gt.  John  vi.  47.    ^  gt.  Mark  ix.  23. 


Liberty  231 

soul  after  Him ;  it  is  the  first  step  in  a  long 
course  of  spiritual  activity.  It  is  a  deed.  The 
disciples  said  unto  Christ,  "  What  must  we  do 
that  we  may  work  the  works  of  God  ?  "  Jesus 
answered,  "  This  is  the  work  of  God,  that  ye 
believe  on  Him  whom  He  hath  sent."^ 

Now  there  is  not  a  hint  in  all  the  teaching  of  All  may 
Jesus  that  this  first  act  of  freedom  is  impossible 
for  any  soul  to  whom  He  speaks.  He  has  no 
idea  of  an  eternal  predestination  binding  some  to 
belief  and  others  to  unbelief,  a  secret  decree  in- 
cluding certain  men  in  the  kingdom  and  exclud- 
ing others  from  all  possibility  of  entering  into  it. 
It  is  true  that  He  says,  "  No  man  can  come  unto 
Me  except  the  Father  draw  him";  ^  but  what  He 
means  by  this  drawing  He  tells  us  in  the  par- 
able of  the  Lost  Son,  where  it  is  the  simple 
knowledge  of  the  Father's  abundant  love  that 
draws  the  prodigal  back  from  the  far  country 
of  sin;^  and  in  the  parable  of  the  Publican  in 
the  Temple,  *  when  it  is  the  sense  of  the  Divine 
mercy  and  forgiveness  that  makes  the  outcast 
man  cry,  "God,  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner." 
There  is  prevenient  grace  in  the  doctrine  of 
Jesus.  But  the  grace  is  there.  It  has  already 
come.     All  that  man  has  to  do  is  to  meet  it,  to 

1  St.  John  vi.  28,  29.  ^  st.  Luke  xv. 

2  St.  John  vi.  44.  *  St.  Luke  xviii.  10-14. 


232 


Liberty 


Christ  is 
God's  call 
to  faith. 


iVo  predesti- 
nation to 
death. 


put  himself  into  the  upward  swing  of  it,  that  it 
may  lift  and  help  him  heavenward. 

A  calling  and  a  choosing  by  God  are  neces- 
sary before  any  man  can  be  saved.  But  Jesus 
does  not  speak  of  this  choosing  and  calling  as 
eternal.  Christ  Himself  is  the  call,  and  all 
Avho  answer  it  are  chosen.  '^  If  any  man  thirst, 
let  him  come  unto  Me  and  drink. "^  ''Him  that 
Cometh  unto  Me  I  Avill  in  nowise  cast  out."^ 
The  heavenly  invitation  is  set  forth  in  all  its 
generosity  and  sincerity  in  the  story  of  the 
Marriage  Feast. ^  The  bidding  went  out  into 
the  highways  and  hedges,  to  the  bad  and  to  the 
good;  and  all  who  heard  and  accepted  it  w^ere 
welcome.  And  if  a  single  guest  was  turned 
away,  it  was  only  because  his  own  conduct 
showed  that  he  had  not  really  taken  the  invi- 
tation honestly  and  accepted  willingly  all  that 
was  provided  for  him. 

There  is  not  a  single  word  in  all  that  Jesus 
said  to  suggest  any  other  reason  than  this  for 
the  exclusion  of  a  single  person  from  the  bless- 
ings of  the  kingdom.  "  Ye  will  not  come  unto 
Me  that  ye  might  have  life."*  "How  often 
would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together 
even  as  a  hen   gathereth   her    chickens    under 


1  St.  John  vii.  37. 

2  St.  John  vi.  37. 


St.  Matt.  xxii.  1-14. 
St.  John  V.  40. 


Liberty  233 

her  wings,  and  ye  would  not^  ^  There  is  not 
one  statement  that  anything  else  but  mercy 
and  grace  has  been  eternally  prepared  by  God 
for  any  human  soul.  In  that  awful  parable  of 
judgment  which  discloses  the  convincing  picture 
of  the  final  separation  of  the  evil  from  the 
good,  Christ  says  distinctl}^  that  the  jo}^  of 
the  blessed  has  been  prepared  for  them  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  but  of  the  punish- 
ment of  the  cursed.  He  says  with  equal  dis- 
tinctness that  it  was  not  prepared  for  them, 
but  for  the  devil  and  his  angels. ^  No  one  is 
ever  lost  because  he  cannot  do  good,  but  only 
because  he  will  not  do  what  he  can. 

As  for  the  doctrine  of  heredity,  while  Christ   '^'^^^'«^  ^'^ 

"--  .      ■  . .  .  heredity. 

recognizes  the  truth  that  it  contains,  it  seems 
as  if  He  purposely  set  Himself  to  expose,  and 
to  ridicule  with  a  Divine  scorn,  the  falsehood  of  - 
its  fatal  extremes.  He  said  to  those  who  were 
relying  upon  heredity  to  save  them  :  "  Think 
not  to  say  within  yourselves,  We  have  Abra- 
ham to  our  father;  for  I  say  unto  you  that 
God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  chil- 
dren unto  Abraham."  3  He  said  to  His  dis- 
ciples when  they  foolishly,  taking  up  the  cant 
of  the  day  about  inherited  sin  and   inevitable 

1  St.  Matt,  xxiii.  37.         2  gt.  Matt.  xxv.  34-41. 
3  St,  Matt.  iii.  9. 


The  weak- 
ness of  man. 


234  Liberty 

punishment,  asked  whether  the  blind  man  or 
•^y  his  parents  had  sinned  that  he  was  born  blind, 
"Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his  parents, 
but  that  the  works  of  God  should  be  made 
manifest  in  him."  ^  The  true  inheritance,  the 
deepest  inheritance  which  Jesus  recognizes  in 
the  human  race,  is  an  inheritance  from  God ; 
a  nature  made  in  the  Divine  image,  spiritual, 
free,  responsible,  and  capable,  though  so  sadly 
marred,  though  so  far  astray,  of  returning  to 
communion  with  the  Heavenly  Father. ^ 

Undoubtedly  Christ  perceived  and  taught  ^ 
the  immense  difficulty^^being  good;  the  in- 
firmity which  long  centuries  of  sin  has  wrought 
into  the  very  fibres  of  the  soul;  the  awful 
and  almost  inaccessible  height  of  true  holi- 
ness; the  enormous  obstacles  which  lie  in  the 
way  of  attaining  it.  The  gate  is  strait,  and 
we  must  agonize  to  enter  in  by  it.  The 
road  is  steep,  and  we  must  toil  to  climb  it. 
"  How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God."^  And  yet  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffered  violence,  and  men 
of  violence  take  it  by  force. "^  There  is  an 
effort  Avhich  succeeds  even  in  this  greatest 
of    all   endeavours,    not   in   its    own    strength, 

1  St.  John  ix.  3.  3  gt.  Mark  x.  23. 

2  See  Appendix,  note  54.  *  St.  Matt.  xi.  12. 


Liberty  235 

but  because  it  is  sure  of  a  Divine  assistance.  The  grace 
"With  man  it  is  impossible,  but  not  with 
God."^  To  the  human  will,  enfeebled  and 
corrupted,  so  that  it  is  like  a  sick  man,  barely 
able  to  turn  himself  upon  his  couch,  and  look 
and  long  and  cry  for  help,  threegreat  sources 
of  strength  are  always  open  and  accessible. 

The  first  is  prayer.  "  Men  ought  always  to  I'rayer. 
pray,  and  not  to  faint."  ^  How  sweet  and 
serene  is  the  voice  that  rings  through  the  vain 
disputations  and  doubtful  wranglings  of  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  calls  every  sinful 
soul  to  pray  !  Pray !  you  may  not  be  able  to 
realize  your  own  ideal,  but  you  can  ask  God 
to  help  you  hold  fast  to  it  and  struggle  towards 
it.     Pray ! 

"  More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 
Than  this  world  dreams  of."  ^ 

Pray !  For  God  is  not  deaf,  nor  sleeping,  nor 
gone  upon  a  journey ;  He  has  not  bound  you 
to  an  inexorable  fate  and  bound  Himself  not  to 
interfere  with  it.  Pray  !  The  liberty  of  your 
own  soul,  and  the  liberty  of  God  Himself,  dwells 
in  that  word ;  for  when  you  stretch  your  feeble 
hand  to  Him,  a  Divine  hand  will  meet  it,  and 

1  St.  Mark  x.  27.  2  st.  Luke  xviii.  1. 

*  3  Tennysou,  The  Passing  of  Arthur. 


236  Liberty 

break  your  fetters,  and  lift  you  out  of  darkness 

and  death  into  life  and  light. 

The  Holy  The    second  source  of  strength  is  the  Holy 

^"^  *  Spirit.     It  is  inconceivable,  morally  impossible, 

that  there  should  be  such  a  Spirit,  and  yet  that 

His   influence  should  be  withheld   from    those 

who  need  and  implore  it.      ''If  ye  then,  being 

evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your 

children,  how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly 

Father  give  the  Holy  Spirit   unto   them   that 

ask  Him."i 

Christ  our  The  third  source  of  strenorth  is  Christ  Him- 

Helper.  .  — * 

self.  Does  the  sense  of  past  guilt  stand  in  the 
way  of  future  effort  ?  He  says,  "  I  have  power 
on  earth  to  forgive  sins."  ^  Does  the  soul  feel 
dead  and  hopeless  under  the  burden  of  evil 
habits  ?  He  says,  "  I  came  that  they  may  have 
life,  and  may  have  it  abundantly."^  Do  the 
works  of  a  true  and  vital  righteousness  seem 
far  beyond  our  power?  He  says,  ''Without  Me 
ye  can  do  nothing ; "  *  but,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  ^  "  He 
that  believeth  on  ]\Ie,  the  works  that  I  do  shall 
he  do  also,  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he 
do,  because  I  go  unto  the  Father."^   The  whole 

1  St.  Luke  xi.  13.  *  st.  John  xv.  5. 

2  St.  Mark  ii.  10.  &  St.  Matt,  xxviii.  20. 

3  St.  John  X.  10.  c  St.  John  xiv.  12. 


deliverance. 


Liberty  237 

life  of  Christ  is  summed  up  in  the  words,  "  But 
as  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He  foioer 
to  become  the  sons  of  God."  ^ 

But  this  receiving,  we  need  to  remember  and  Ti^^  way  of 
assert  again  and  again,  is  not  a  passive  thing. 
It  is  an  action  of  the  soul,  the  opening  of  a  door 
within  the  heart,  the  welcoming  of  a  heavenly 
master.  God  does  not  save  men  as  a  watch- 
maker who  repairs  and  sets  a  watch,  but  as  a 
King  who  recalls  his  servants  to  their  duty,  as 
a  Father  who  makes  new  revelations  of  His  love 
to  draw  His  lost  children  back  to  Himself.  The 
dogmas  of  the  schools  in  regard  to  the  working 
out  of  what  they  call  the  scheme  of  redemption 
sound  like  the  creak  and  rattle  of  some  vast 
machine.  The  doctrine  of  Christ  is  like  the 
soft  breath  of  spring,  evoking  the  songs  of  birds 
and  the  unfolding  of  new  life.  No  fiery  chariot 
of  grace  swoops  doAvn  to  snatch  men  to  glory. 
But  a  living  Messenger  comes  forth  from  God 
to  ask  men  to  turn  and  walk  back  with  Him  to 
their  soul's  home.  The  invitation  itself  is  a 
guarantee  of  the  power  to  accept  it.  With  au- 
thority Christ  commanded  the  Avinds  and  the  sea 
and  they  obeyed  Him.  But  with  gracious  plead- 
inof  He  invited  the  hearts  of  men,  aud  those  that 
were  willing  gladly  heard  and  followed  Him. 
1  St.  John  i.  12. 


238 


Liberty 


God  helps 
those  who 
he!}}  them- 


Christus 
Liberat07\ 


"If  any  man  loilh  to  come  after  Me,"  ^  —  that  is 
the  prelude  of  His  message.  He  offers  a  leader- 
ship to  men  who  can  follow,  a  mastership  to 
men  Avho  can  obey.  Out  of  this  first  movement 
He  promises  to  guide  and  direct  the  whole  de- 
velopment of  the  new  life,  —  not  a  passive  life 
of  retirement,  of  ascetic  meditation,  of  reflec- 
tion upon  secret  truth,  —  but  an  active  life  of 
service,  of  warfare  against  evil  in  the  world,  a 
life  which  translates  truth  into  conduct. 

Contrast  the  religion  of  Jesus  in  this  respect 
with  the  Oriental  religions,  and  with  those 
forms  of  Christianity  which  have  borrowed  the 
garments  of  Buddha  and  speak  with  the  accent 
of  Mahomet.  They  despise  and  slight  per- 
sonality.  Christ  respects  and  emphasizes  it. 
They  aim  to  reduce  ami  ^evaporate  res^Don^i- 
bility.  Christ  aims  to  deepen  and  increase 
it.  They  point  forward  to  a  blank  Nirvana 
in  which  the  individual  is  lost  and  absorbed, 
or  a  Paradise  in  which  he  is  forever  lapped  in 
sensual  ease  and  pleasure.  Christ  speaks  of 
the  perfecting  of  the  individual  through  the 
Divine  communion  and  service  on  earth,  and 
his  entrance  in  heaven  upon  a  new  stage  of 
the  same  communion,  the  same  service,  — 
"not  in  a  blessed  idleness,  but  in  an  exalted 
1  St.  Matt.  xvi.  24. 


Liberty  239 

kingly  work  and  activity."  And  the  entrance 
to  this  kingdom  on  earth,  the  continuance  in 
its  reahn  of  liberty,  the  attainment  of  its  final 
glory,  are  all  through  an  act  of  the  will.  The 
freedom  which  originated  in  God  is  only  to  be 
preserved  by  returning  to  God  and  abiding  in 
Him. 

"  Our  wills  are  ours,  we  know  not  how  ; 
Our  wills  are  ours,  to  make  them  Thine."  ^ 

That  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  That  is  the 
truth  which,  when  it  comes  to  men,  makes 
them  and  keeps  them  free. 


IV 

It  is  impossible  that  we   should  be  faithful   The  age 

')}€€cls  thts 

preachers  of  Christ  to  the  present  age,  unless 


X 


message. 


we  preach  this  truth.  There  may  have  been 
ages  in  which  it  was  important  to  dwell  upon 
other  sides  and  aspects  of  the  manifold  reality 
of  the  spiritual  world.  But  to-day  this  is  the 
important  side ;  this  is  the  aspect  which  de- 
mands a  clear  recognition  and  an  unfaltering 
proclamation  by  those  who  mean  to  be  true  to 
Christ  and  loyal  to  the  needs  of  humanity.  I 
do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  single  passage  in 
the  Old  Testament  which  contradicts  Christ's 
1  Tennyson,  In  3Iemonam,  Proem. 


240  Liberty 

doctrine  of  the  real  liberty  of  the  souL  But 
if  there  were  such  a  passage,  I  would  leave  it 
forever  alone,  as  belonging  to  that  knowledge 
which  was  in  part,  and  which  was  done  away 
when  that  which  was  perfect  had  come.  I  do 
not  believe  that  there  is  a  single  word  in  the 
St.  Paul  on  writings  of  St.  Paul  which  stands  against  this 
freedom.  ^^^^^i^^^  of  the  real  libejtj  of  the  soul.  I 
cut  loose  from  the  false  interpretations  which 
men  have  read  into  his  words.  I  take  the 
light  of  Christ's  teaching  in  my  hand,  and  I 
go  back  to  interpret  by  that  light  the  teach- 
ings of  the  great  Epistle  to  the  Romans  with 
its  glorious  revelation  of  "  the  mystery  which 
hath  been  kept  in  silence  through  times  eter- 
nal, but  now  is  manifested,  and  by  the  Scriptures 
of  the  prophets,  according  to  the  commandment 
of  the  eternal  God,  is  made  known  unto  all 
the  nations  unto  obedience  of  faith.'' '^  I  hear 
again  the  cry  of  the  struggling,  labouring,  con- 
quering apostle  :  "  To  ivill  is  present  with  me^  y^ 
but  to  do  that  which  is  good  is  not.  ...  O 
wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver  me 
out  of  the  body  of  this  death?  I  thank  God 
through  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord;'''^  and  I  know 
that  St.  Paul  also  was  a  believer  in  the  free- 
dom of  the  will,  and  that  he  received  this 
1  Rom.  xvi.  26.  2  Rom.  vii.  18,  24,  25. 


Liberty  241 

gospel  and  the  power  to  fulfil  it,  through  the 
proclamation  of  liberty  in  Jesus  Christ. 

"This  matter  of  free-will,"  wrote  one  of  the  Free-ioUi 
most  orthodox  of  theologians,  but  a  few  years  question"^'^ 
before  his  death,  "underlies  everything.  If 
you  bring  it  to  question,  it  is  infinitely  more 
•than  Calvinism.  ...  I  believe  in  Calvinism, 
and  I  say. that  free-wdll  stands  before  Calvin- 
ism. Everything  is  gone  if  free-will  is  gone  ; 
the  moral  system  is  gone,  if  free-will  is  gone  ; 
you  cannot  escape  except  by  Materialism  on 
the  one  hand  or  by  Pantheism  on  the  other. 
Hold  hard  therefore  to  the  doctrine  of  free- 
will." i 

Yes,  and  we  may  say  more  than  this.  Not 
only  is  the  moral  system  gone,  but  the  great 
attraction  of  Christ  is  gone,  the  power  of  His 
gospel  to  liberate  men  is  gone,  if  free-will  is 
gone. 

The  age  has  hypnotized  itself.  It  is  drift-  The  age  has 
ing  steadily  towards  fatalism.  It  denies  free-  ^^se^/". 
dom,  and  therefore  it  is  not  free.  It  is  in 
bondage  to  its  own  doubt.  It  is  enslaved  by 
its  own  denial.  If  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
liberty,  it  can  only  be  developed,  as  everything 
else  has  been  develoj^ed,  by  action,  by  exercise. 

1  A.  A.  Hodge,  Popular  Lectures  on  Theological  Themes 
(Philadelphia,  1887),  p.  184. 

R 


242  Liberty 

Life  is  self-change  to  meet  environment.  Lib- 
erty is  self-exertion  to  unfold  the  soul.  The 
law  of  natural  selection  is  that  those  who  use 
a  faculty  shall  expand  it,  but  those  who  use  it 
not  shall  lose  it.  Religion  is  life,  and  it  must 
grow  under  the  laws  of  life.  Faith  is  simply 
the  assertion  of  spiritual  freedom  ;  it  is  the 
first  adventure  of  the  soul.  Make  that  ad- 
venture towards  God,  make  that  adventure 
towards  Christ,  and  the  soul  will  know  that  it 
is  alive.  So  it  enters  upon  that  upward  course 
which  leads  through  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of 
God  to  the  height  of  heaven, 

"  Where  love  is  an  unerring  light 
And  joy  its  own  security."  ^ 

We  must  This  is  the  truth  with  which  we  are  to  go 

libertij  in       ^^^*  a-gospclling  in  this  age  of  doubt.     We  are 
Christ.  to  tell  men  that  though  much  has  been  deter- 

mined for  them  by  causes  beyond  their  control, 
—  their  circumstances,  their  talents,  their  facul- 
ties, —  one  thing  has  not  been  determined,  and 
that  is  what  they  will  do  with  them.  Much  has 
been  ordained  before  their  birth,  —  their  nation- 
ality, their  family,  their  station  in  life,  —  but 
•  one  thing  has  not  been  ordained,  and  that  is 
whether  they  are  to  move  from  this  starting- 
1  Wordsworth,  Ode  to  Duty. 


Liberty  243 

point  towards  life  or  towards  death.  They 
may  be  like  men  sunken  in  a  nightmare  dream 
of  helplessness,  muttering  in  their  sleep,  "  If  I 
am  to  be  saved,  I  shall  be  saved ;  if  I  am  to  be 
lost,  I  shall  be  lost,"  —  but  we  must  cry  to  them 
with  the  voice  of  the  Spirit :  "  Awake,  thou  / 
that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and 
Christ  shall  give  thee  light." 


VII 

SOVEREIGNTY 


"  I  say  to  thee,  do  tliou  repeat 
To  the  first  man  thou  niayest  meet 
In  lane,  highway,  or  open  street  — 

"  That  he  and  we  and  all  men  move 
Under  a  canopy  of  love, 
As  broad  as  the  blue  sky  above ; 

"  That  doubt  and  trouble,  fear  and  pain 
And  anguish,  all  are  shadows  vain. 
That  death  itself  shall  not  remain  ; 

"  That  weary  deserts  we  may  tread, 
A  dreary  labyrinth  may  thread. 
Through  dark  ways  underground  be  led ; 

"  Yet  if  we  will  one  Guide  obey. 
The  dreariest  path,  the  darkest  way. 
Shall  issue  out  in  heavenly  day ; 

"And  we,  on  divers  shores  now  cast, 
Shall  meet,  our  perilous  voyage  past, 
All  in  our  Father's  house  at  last." 

—  Richard  Chenevix  Trench. 
The  Kingdom  of  God. 


VII 
SOVEREIGNTY 

The  questions  about  the  world  which  science   ^^*^  ^^"'^- 

1-1      du'^'ies  of 

considers  and  answers,  all  have  to  do  with  science, 
secondary  causes.  Beyond  that  sphere  she  does 
not  need  to  go,  and  within  that  sphere  her  wis- 
dom is  sufficient.  We  come  to  her  like  curious 
children.  We  "want  to  see  the  wheels  go 
round."  We  want  to  know  Avhat  the  wheels 
are  made  of.  She  tells  us,  and  there  she  stops. 
All  that  we  have  a  right  to  ask  of  her  is  that 
she  shall  be  true  to  facts,  and  that  she  shall 
confine  herself  to  them.  When  the  astronomer 
Laplace  was  reproached  for  not  mentioning  God 
in  his  treatise  on  the  dynamics  of  the  solar 
system,  he  answered,  "  I  had  no  need  of  that 
hypothesis."  And  this  reply  was  just,  as  Mr. 
John  Eiske  has  pointed  out,  because  "  in  order 
to  give  a  specific  explanation  of  any  single 
group  of  phenomena,  it  would  not  do  to  ap- 
peal to  divine  action,  which  is  equally  tlie 
source  of  all  phenomena."^ 

1  Christian  Literature,  January,  1896,  "The  Everlasting 
Reality  of  Religion,"  p.  306. 

247 


248  Sovereignty 

The  great  But    the    moment    we    take    tliis    reasonable 

TevojiT^  ^^  ^^^^  modest  position   (and   it   is   a    great   pity 
them.  that  theology  has  not  been  more  ready  to  take 

it),  we  perceive  that  curiosity  in  regard  to 
single  groups  of  phenomena  by  no  means  satis- 
fies or  exhausts  the  activity  of  the  questioning 
spirit  in  man.  There  is  a  deeper  curiosity  in 
regard  to  the  relation  of  these  single  groups 
of  phenomena  to  each  other,  and  to  ourselves, 
and  to  the  possibility  of  a  meaning,  a  purpose, 
an  end,  underlying  all  things  and  all  their 
workings.  Out  of  this  deeper  curiosity  rise 
the  questions  which  are  most  urgent  and  vital, 
—  questions  which,  when  we  consider  them  ab- 
stractly, are  philosophical,  and  condition  the 
unity  of  our  intellectual  life  ;  but  when  we  con- 
sider them  personally,  they  are  religious,  and 
upon  their  answer  our  spiritual  peace  and  moral 
action  absolutely  depend.  How  are  we  to  think 
about  the  things  that  we  know  ?  What  are  we 
to  believe  in  regard  to  the  things  that  science 
tells  us  we  cannot  know,  but  which  we  still 
feel  are  necessary  conditions  of  all  intelligent 
and  right  conduct  ?  Is  there  an  invisible  unity 
beneath  all  the  visible  diversity  of  phenomena? 
What  is  the  nature  of  that  unity,  personal  or 
impersonal,  conscious  or  unconscious?  •  Is  there 
anything    behind    the    mechanical    working    of 


Sovereignty  249 

the  world,  now  so  wonderfully  explained,  which 
corresponds  to  what  there  is  in  us  when  we 
make  and  use  a  machine  or  an  instrument, 
when  we  plant  and  cultivate  a  garden,  or  when 
we  select  and  train  a  noble  race  of  animals? 
Is  there  a  final  cause  towards  which  things 
work  together,  and  a  supreme  power  which 
guides  them  to  that  end? 

This  is  the   question    of    sovereignty.      We   The  ques- 
can  no  more  help  asking  it  than  we  can  help  ^gQ^lreignty 
thinking. 

We  are  in  the  world  like  voyagers  on  a  ship. 
We  inquire  what  the  ship  is  made  of;  and 
science  tells  us,  —  iron  and  wood.  And  what 
makes  it  float  ?  The  buoyancy  of  the  air  which 
it  contains.  And  what  makes  it  go?  Steam. 
And  what  makes  the  steam  ?  The  heat  of  the 
furnace.  Then,  if  we  are  sufficiently  inter- 
ested, science  takes  us  down  into  the  engine- 
room,  and  shows  us  all  the  condensers  and 
pistons  and  cranks  and  wheels,  more  fully  than 
they  have  ever  been  shown  before  ;  and  we  are 
amazed  and  profoundly  grateful.  We  come  up 
again  into  the  light  of  day.  We  look  into  the 
overarching  heaven,  the  home  of  sunshine  and 
storm,  the  deep  mother  of  light  and  darkness. 
We  look  out  upon  the  great  and  wide  sea, 
full  of  mystery  and  terror.     New  questionings 


250 


Sovereignty 


Has  the 
ivorld  a 
captain? 


spring  to  our  lips.  Where  is  the  ship  going? 
Is  there  a  captain  on  board  ?  Does  he  know, 
does  he  care,  what  is  to  become  of  it?  Is  he 
wise,  is  he  faithful,  is  he  a  good  captain  ?  Can 
he  direct  the  vessel  through  tempests  and  dan- 
gers? Can  he  tell  us  how  to  work  with  him, 
how  to  act  in  times  of  peril  and  perplexity? 
Can  we  be  sure  of  him,  can  we  trust  him  ? 

Now  to  this  questioning,  scepticism  gives  a 
reply  of  desperate  uncertainty ;  and  positivism 
answers  with  a  stern  and  sullen.  No  !  The 
world  is  a  derelict  vessel,  and  we  are  master- 
less  and  lost  mariners.  This  answer  has  been 
expressed  by  a  French  poet  in  powerful  and 
pathetic  verse. 

"  Jouet  de  I'ouragan,  qui  I'emporte  et  le  mene, 
Encombre  de  tresors  et  d'agres  submerges, 
Ce  navire  perdu,  mais  c'est  le  nef  humaine, 
Et  nous  sommes  les  uaufrages. 

'*  L'equipage  affole  manoeuvre  en  vain  dans  I'ombre ; 
L'Epouvante  est  a  bord,  le  Desespoir,  le  Deuil ; 
Assise  au  gouvernail,  la  Fatalite  sombre 
Le  dirige  vers  un  ecueil."i 

But  Christ  gives  a  very  different  answer. 
It  seems  as  if  His  very  words  were  chosen  to 
contradict  this  view  of  life  as  a  helpless,  hope- 

1  L.  Ackerman,  3Ia  Vie,  Poesies,  etc.  (Paris,  1885),  "  Le 
Cri,"  p.  180. 


answers 


Sovereignty  251 

less  voyage,  and   humanity   as    a   shipwrecked   Christ 
race.      For  what   is    it   that   He    says   to   His    jr 
disciples  as  they  look  out  upon  the  mystery  of 
existence  ? 

"  Seek  not  what  ye  shall  eat,  and  what  ye 
shall  drink,  neither  he  ye  as  a  ship  that  is  tossed 
on  the  waves  of  a  tempestuous  sea  (^jxr)  jxereoopC- 
fecr^e),  for  your  Father  knoweth  that  ye  have 
need  of  these  things."  ^ 

The  vessel  is  not  driving  masterless  over  the 
ocean.  The  Captain  is  on  board.  He  is  God. 
He  is  also  our  Father.  For  all  who  trust  and 
serve  Him,  it  is  a  sure  voyage,  a  certain  port, 
a  safe  harbour. 


The  doctrine  of  the  presence  and  sovereignty  ^^^e 
of  God  in  His  world,  in  one  form  or  another,  is 
essential  to  the  validity  of  any  reasoning  which 
attempts  to  go  beyond  the  mere  appearance  of 
things.  Without  it  we  find  ourselves,  as  one 
has  well  said,  "  put  to  permanent  intellectual 
confusion."  Without  it  the  world  lies  before 
us,  as  Pope  wrote  in  the  first  draft  of  his  Essay 
on  Man^  — 

"  A  mighty  maze,  and  all  without  a  plan." 

1  St.  Luke  xii.  29. 


sovereignty 
of  God. 


252 


Sovereignty 


Christ's 
view  of  it. 


And  if  we  follow  the  poet  in  that  cold  pliilo- 
sophical  deism  which  led  him  to  revise  his  fa- 
mous line  so  that  it  now  reads 

''  A  mighty  maze,  but  not  without  a  plan,"  i 
we  are  still  in  the  dark,  still  confused  and 
hopeless,  unless  we  go  further  and  learn  enough 
of  Him  who  made  the  plan,  to  trust  Him  even 
when  we  cannot  perfectly  understand  His  work- 
ing, and  to  confide  absolutely  in  "His  most 
holy,  wise,  and  powerful  preserving  and  govern- 
ing all  His  creatures  and  all  their  actions."  ^ 

This  is  what  Christ  gives  us  :  a  view  of  God 
in  His  world  which  requires  faith  to  accept  it, 
but  which  when  it  is  accepted,  satisfies  the  rea- 
son and  the  heart  better  than  any  other  view, 
clears  away  many  of  the  intellectual  and  moral 
difficulties  which  beset  us,  and  becomes  the  in- 
ward source  not  of  doubt  and  distress,  but  of 
certainty  and  peace. 

This  is  not  true,  we  must  admit,  of  some  of 
the  forms  in  which  the  doctrine  of  divine  sov- 
ereignty has  been  preached  in  Christ's  name. 
They  have  often  disregarded  the  facts  of  nat- 
ure. They  have  often  outraged  the  moral 
instincts  of  humanity.  They  have  created 
new  obstacles  to  faith.     They  have  driven  men 

1  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  part  i.,  line  6. 
^  The  Shorter  Catechism,  question  xi. 


Sovereignty  253 

back  in  dumb  resentment  to  believe  in  the 
positivist's  "sombre  Fatality,"  rather  than  in 
an  absentee  God  who  has  foreordained,  by  one 
and  the  same  decree,  all  the  evil  and  all  the 
good,  ^11  the  sorrow  and  shame  and  suffering 
that  are  in  the  world. 

Not  so  with  Christ's  teaching.  It  is  sane 
and  sweet.  It  allays  resentment  and  begets 
serenity.  It  gives  a  reconciling,  harmonizing, 
atoning  view  of  God's  sovereignty.  And  if 
we  can  see  it  clearly  and  preach  it  faithfully, 
it  will  be  to-day,  as  it  was  in  His  day,  one  of 
the  great  attractions  of  the  gospel  for  an  age 
of  doubt. 

II 

Christ's   doctrine  of  the  divine  sovereignty   Chnst's 
was  both  old  and  ncAV.     It  was  old  because  it  ^andmV 
recognized  the  truth,  uttered  so  magnificently 
by  prophets  and  psalmists,  of  God's  right  and 
poAver    to    rule    the    universe    which    He    has 
made.     "Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  for  ever  and 
ever."i     "The  Lord  hath  j^repared  His  throne 
in  the  heavens  and   His  kingdom  ruleth  over 
all. "2     "He  doeth  according  to  His  will  in  the 
army  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth :  and  none  can  •  stay  His  hand,  or  say 
unto  Him,  What  doest  Thou  ?  "  ^ 
1  Psalm  xlv.  6.  2  Psalm  ciii.  19.  3  Daniel  iv.  35. 


world. 


254       .  Sovereignty 

A  simpler  But    Clirist's    doctriiie  was   new   because   it 

revelation.  ^.q^^^^Iq^i  ^]jq  presence  of  the  sovereign  God  in 
the  physical  universe  more  simpl}^,  more  natu- 
rally, more  intimately,  than  it  had  ever  been 
revealed  before.  How  gentle,  how  plain,  how 
mildly  luminous,  is  the  language  in  which 
Jesus  expresses  this  truth,  compared  with  the 
flashing,  rolling  speech  of  the  prophets !  He 
uses  the  words  of  common  life,  transfigured 
with  emotion,  —  the  language  of  lyric,  rather 
than  of  epic,  poetry. 
God  in  His  The  manifestations  of  divine  power  in  the 
Old  Testament  appear  chiefly  as  mighty  works, 
exceptional  forthputtings  of  supernal  force. 
It  seems  sometimes  as  if  they  came  from  a 
distance  ;  as  if  God  had  withdrawn  from  the 
world  and  had  been  called  back  to  it  by  the 
peril  and  the  cry  of  His  people.  But  Christ 
would  teach  us  to  feel  that  He  has  never  gone 
away  for  an  instant.  He  is  always  here. 
Nothing  that  happens  is  hidden  from  Him. 
Nor  does  He  hide  Himself  from  any  who 
would  behold  Him.  We  may  see  Him  every 
day,  in  the  feeding  of  the  birds,  in  the  blos- 
soming of  the  flowers, 

"  And  every  wayside  bush  aflame  with  God." 
In  all  the  processes  of  nature   He  is  present 
and  sovereign. 


Sovereignty  255 

This  view  of  the  relation  of  God  to  the  ma-   The  divine 

,      •    ^  -IT-  j_.  1  1  1-T      immanence. 

terial  world  is  not  external  and  mechanical. 
It  is  inward  and  vital.  God  has  not  made  the 
world  and  wound  it  np  and  left  it  to  rnn  by 
itself.  He  is  in  it,  as  really  as  a  man  is  in  the 
house  that  he  inhabits,  and  all  the  potencies 
that  move  and  animate  it  flow  directly  from 
Him.  The  Jcavs  thought  that  God  had  fabri- 
cated the  universe  in  six  daj^s  and  sat  down  to 
rest  on  the  seventh,  laying  aside  His  work  as 
a  clock-maker  would  put  down  a  finished 
clock.  But  Christ  said,  "My  Father  worketh 
until  now,  and  I  work."^  Creation  is  not 
ended,  it  is  going  on  all  the  time.  Yesterday 
was  a  creative  day ;  and  so  is  to-day  ;  and  so 
to-morrow  will  be.  The  divine  thought  is 
still  weaving  its  beautiful  garment  on  the 
roaring  loom  of  Time. 

But  God's  activity  in  the  world  is  not  ca-  The  divine 
pricious  or  disorderly.  No  one  was  more  sen- 
sitive than  Jesus  to  "the  rhythmic  element 
in  nature,  —  the  flow  of  rivers,  the  procession 
of  stars,  the  antiphony  of  day  and  night,  the 
silent  but  inviolate  order  of  the  seasons."  ^  It 
was   He   who   expressed    the   law    of   growth  : 

1  St.  John  V.  17. 

2  H.  W.  Mabie,  Essai/s  on  Nature  and  Culture  (New  York, 
1896),  p.  295. 


256  Sovereignty 

"first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  and  after  that 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear/'^  It  was  He  who 
suggested  the  analogy  of  natural  law  in  the 
spiritual  world,  applying  the  figure  of  germi- 
nation to  His  own  death  and  resurrection  : 
"  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die,  it  abideth  alone  ;  but  if  it  die,  it 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit.  "^  The  parables 
which  He  used  to  describe  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  were  drawn  from  nature  and  based  on 
law.  It  was  like  "leaven  which  a  woman 
took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal  until 
the  whole  was  leavened,"  or  "like  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,  which  a  man  took  and  sowed 
in  his  field  ;  which  indeed  is  the  least  of  all 
seeds,  but  when  it  is  grown  it  is  the  greatest 
among  herbs."  ^  He  taught  His  disciples  to 
look  upon  the  regular  and  steadfast  ordinances 
of  nature  as  the  proof  that  their  Heavenly 
Father  was  mindful  of  them  and  would  take 
care  of  them.  You  will  not  find  any  such  su- 
perfluous phrase  as  "  special  Providence  "  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus.  His  thought  was  of  a  gen- 
eral and  universal  Providence,  wide  enough 
and  deep  enough  to  embrace  the  wants  of  all 
creatures  and   provide  for  them.      God's  chil- 

1  St.  Mark  iv.  28.         2  gt.  John  xii.  24. 
3  St.  Matt.  xiii.  32,  33. 


Sovereignty  257 

dren  were  not  to  trust  in  miracles  and  marvels 
for  tlieir  daily  bread  ;  they  were  not  to  be 
always  looking  and  calling  for  the  extraordi- 
nary, —  manna  from  the  sky,  water  from  the 
riven  rock.  They  were  to  rest  rather  upon 
the  course  of  nature  in  quiet  confidence,  and 
work  with  it  in  cheerful  joy,  knowing  that 
He  who  clothes  the  grass  of  the  field  will  much 
more  clothe  them,^  —  and  by  the  same  power 
working  in  the  same  Avay. 

Yet   Jesus  did  not  think  of  God  as  havins'  Miracles  not 

o 

exhausted   all    possible   modes  of   His  activity  "^^^^^g 
in  those  which  are  familiar  to  us.^     His  pres- 
ence in  the  world  is  of   such  a  personal  kind 
that  it  necessarily  brings  w^ith  it  the  power  of 
direct,  personal,  infinitely  varied  action.      Out 
of   this  power  spring   those  strange  signs  and 
wondrous  works  which  we  call  miracles.     Jesus 
never  said  that  they  were  against  nature.     He 
never  even  said  that   they  w^ere  supernatural. 
He  claimed    only  that   they  were   proofs  of   a 
divine  mission,  because  they  were  such  Avorks 
as   could    only    come    from    God.     They    were 
signs,  just  as  all  uncommon  and  extraordinar}^   Signs  of 
acts  are  signs.     But  signs  of  what?     Of   per-  ^'^'**^'*"  ^  ?^' 
sonality,  of  that  power  of  choice  in  modes  of 

1  St.  Matt.  vi.  30. 

2  See  Appendix,  note  55. 


258  Sovereignty 

action  which  is  the  essential  attribute  of  a 
free  sj^irit.  They  were  wrought  in  order 
that  men  might  believe,  not  in  order  that 
they  might  be  astonished;  and  just  as  truly 
in  order  that  they  might  believe  in  the  order 
of  nature  as  in  the  Person  who  upholds  it  by 
His  presence. 
The  reign  of  "An  energy,"  says  Mr.  Rusldn,  "may  be 
law.  natural    without    being     normal,    and     divine 

without  being  constant."  Jesus  did  not  teach 
the  reign  of  law.  He  taught  the  reign  of  God 
throuHi  law.  And  in  order  that  men  misfht 
be  sure  that  the  laAV  did  not  bind  God  like  a 
chain,  but  freely  expressed  His  sovereign  will, 
it  was  given  unto  Jesus  to  show  men  those 
rare  Avorks,  unique  and  transcendent,  like 
strokes  of  genius,  which  reveal,  as  if  by  flashes 
of  liglit,  the  true  relation  between  the  sover- 
eign God  and  the  universe  which  He  is  mak- 
ing and  ruling.  1 
The  secret  It  is  always  to  tliis  personal  God  that  Jesus 

would  direct  the  thoughts  and  confident  affec- 
tions of  men.  How  is  it  possible  for  any  one  to 
miss  His  meaning,  and  translate  it  into  some- 
thing entirely  different,  as  jNIatthcAv  Arnold 
does  in  his  misinterpretation  of  what  he  calls 
"the  secret  of  Jesus"  ?  It  is  not  merely  the  joy 
1  See  Appendix,  note  56. 


Sovereignty  259 

and  peace  of  self-renunciation  that  Jesus  sets 

forth  to  His  disciples.     It  is  the  inward   qui-   Trust  in  a 

-  T  T       .  sovereign 

etude  and  rest  oi  sen-surrender  to  a  iovmg  jPather. 
Father  who  is  also  the  Mighty  God.  And  it 
is  not  from  the  sense  of  His  resistless  power, 
but  from  the  consciousness  of  His  love,  of 
His  Fatherhood,  that  peace  comes.  "  Yea, 
Father,  for  so  it  w^as  well-pleasing  in  Thy 
sight."  ^  ''Father,  all  things  are  possible  unto 
Thee  ;  remove  this  cup  from  Me :  howbeit 
not  what  I  will,  but  what  Thou  wilt."^ 
"Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commit  My  spirit. "^ 
This  is  the  secret  of  Jesus.  He  does  not  teach 
bare  sovereignty  to  which  we  must  yield  be- 
cause it  is  irresistible.  He  teaches  sover- 
eignty of  a  certain  kind,  —  the  sovereignty 
of  a  Father,  who  is  as  much  better,  as  He  is 
more  powerful,  than  all  earthly  parents  or 
rulers,  and  who  will  never  forsake  His  world, 
nor  suffer  His  children  to  slip  from  His  mighty 
hand. 


in 


But  sovereignty  of  this  kind  necessarily  im- 
plies distinctions  in  the  manner  of  its  exercise. 
It  cannot  possibly  be  conceived  of  in  terms  of 

1  St.  Matt.  xi.  26.    2  gt.  Mark  xiv.  36.    ^  gt.  Luke  xxiii.  46, 


260 


Sovereignty 


The  highest 
kind  of 
sovereignty 
discrimi- 
nates. 


A  lower 
kind  of 
sovereignty 
mechanical. 


any  single  force  or  confined  to  any  one  mode  of 
operation.  It  must  be  flexible  and  discriminat- 
ing. It  must  include  within  itself  as  many 
forms  of  rule  as  there  are  forms  of  being  under 
its  dominion.  What,  for  example,  should  we 
say  of  a  king  who  had  but  one  way  of  dealing 
with  all  his  subjects,  young  and  old,  wise  and 
ignorant,  loyal  and  disloyal,  and  who  treated 
his  servants  under  precisely  the  same  condi- 
tions as  his  horses  and  his  chariots  ?  Or  what 
should  we  say  of  a  father  who  attempted  to  reg- 
ulate and  rule  his  children  without  reference  to 
their  character,  and  who  made  no  distinction 
between  them  and  the  furniture  of  his  house  ? 
Yet  this,  in  effect,  is  the  theory  of  the  divine 
sovereignty  Avhicli  has  frequently  been  set  forth 
by  theologians  as  if  it  were  the  only  one  which 
did  justice  to  the  glory  of  God. 

"  The  will  of  God,"  according  to  this  theory, 
"is  the  irresistible  force.  It  is  the  source  of 
all  things,  all  persons,  all  events.  From  it  they 
all  proceed,  under  it  they  all  act,  by  an  invari- 
able necessity.  This  will  has  already  deter- 
mined from  all  eternity  everything  that  comes 
to  pass.  Every  character  in  the  world,  like 
every  rock  and  every  plant,  is  just  what  God 
willed  it  to  be.  Everything  that  happens,  hap- 
pens because  He  willed  it  and  precisely  as  He 


Sovereignty  261 

willed  it.  The  life  of  mankind  is  far  from 
being  in  any  sense  a  voyage,  an  adventnre,  a 
probation.  It  is  simply  the  process  of  printing 
a  history  which  has  already  been  written  and 
set  in  type  down  to  the  last  letter.  The  great 
press  is  in  motion.  Our  souls  are  the  blank 
pages.  On  one  is  printed  a  foreordained  prayer. 
On  another  a  foreordained  blasphemy.  Death 
is  the  folding  knife.  Judgment  is  the  act  of 
binding,  in  which  the  fair  pages  will  be  pre- 
served and  the  foul  pages  rejected  and  burned. 
The  sovereignty  of  God  is  exercised  in  seeing 
that  the  book  goes  through  the  press  exactly  as 
it  was  written,  without  the  addition  or  sub- 
traction of  a  single  syllable  of  the  foreordained 
text." 

But  surely,  even  if  this  theory  were  true  and  The  lower 
could  be  proved,  it  is  not  of  a  nature  to  give  f^iQ^ioi^g^ 
aid  and  comfort  to  those  who  are  zealous  for 
the  glory  of  God.  It  does  not  really  exalt  and 
magnify  the  divine  sovereignty,  but  narrows 
and  degrades  it.  It  does  not  call  for  the  per- 
fect wisdom  and  unlimited  resources  of  a  potent 
Ruler  able  to  meet  emergencies,  to  overcome 
oppositions,  to  guide  and  direct  intelligent  and 
free  subjects  like  Himself,  and  to  conduct  a 
high  enterprise,  through  all  the  difficulties  that 
may  arise,  to  a  successful   end.     It   calls  for 


262  Sovereignty 

qualities  of  a  lower  kind  and  a  strictly  limited 
scope ;  the  exact  knowledge  and  the  applied 
strength  of  a  skilful  machinist ;  not  the  broad 
intelligence,  the  swift  genius,  the  inexhaustible 
patience,  and  the  triumphant  personal  influ- 
ence of  a  great  Captain,  a  Master  and  Lord  of 
men. 
Which  kind       It  is  conceivable,  of  course,  that  God  mieht 

has  God  ^ 

chosen?         nnYQ  chosen  to  create  a  universe  in  which  His 

sovereignty  should  be  exercised  in  this  one  un- 
varying line  of  foreordained  necessity.  Being 
supreme.  He  has  both  the  right  and  the  power 
to  make  such  a  sphere,  or  spheres,  for  the  rev- 
elation of  His  attributes  as  may  please  Him. 
But  it  is  not  humanly  conceivable  that  He 
should  have  made  this  particular  choice  which 
is  ascribed  to  Him  for  His  own  glory.  If  He 
had  chosen  this  kind  of  a  universe,  so  far  as  we 
can  see,  it  must  have  lowered  and  hidden  His 
glory.  It  must  have  left  Him  with  a  held  in 
which  the  highest  qualities  of  personality  could 
not  possibly  be  exercised.  It  must  have  made 
all  subsequent  choice,  and  all  approval  or 
disapproval,  and  all  truly  moral  government 
impossible.  The  existence  of  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, the  sense  of  merit  or  demerit  among 
the  creatures  of  such  a  world,  would  be  inex- 
plicable.    Nay  more,  it  would  be  a  cruel  delu- 


Sovereignty  263 

sion,  wliicli,  since  it  must  come  like  everything 
else,  according  to  this  theory,  from  the  Avill  of 
the  Maker,  would  reflect  a  dark  shadow  of  dis- 
credit upon  His  moral  character.  To  claim 
that  tins  sense  of  responsibility,  like  all  other 
parts  of  the  system,  may  be  a  necessity,  a  legal 
fiction  which  is  essential  to  the  working"  of  a 
scheme  far  above  our  comprehension  and  there- 
fore above  our  judgment,  makes  it  more  awful, 
but  not  more  admirable.  If  there  is  any  valid- 
ity whatever  in  our  moral  instincts,  we  need  not 
hesitate  to  sa}^,  that  from  our  present  point  of 
view,  which  is  for  us  the  only  one  attainable, 
this  theory  of  the  absolute  and  unconditional 
sovereignty  of  God,  exercised  by  one  law  of 
necessity  over  all  creatures,  is  so  far  from  being 
for  God's  glory  that  it  is  apparently  for  His 
shame  and  dishonour. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  been,  and  still  is,    Tkedifi- 

.  .      cultles  of 

the  most  fertile  mother  of  doubts.  "A  uni-  absolutism. 
verse  in  which  all  the  power  was  on  the  side  of 
the  creator,  and  all  the  morality  on  the  side  of 
creatiou,  would  be  one  compared  with  which 
the  universe  of  naturalism  would  shine  out  as  a 
paradise  indeed."  ^  The  idea  of  an  irresponsible 
God  ruling  by  an  eternal  and  inflexible  fiat 
over  responsible  men,  is  a  moral  nightmare, 
1  Foundations  of  Belief  p.  320. 


Jesus  de- 
livers us 
from  them. 


264  Sovereignty 

under  which  humanity  groans,  and  from  which 
it  struggles  to  awake,  even  though  it  shoukl 
have  to  open  its  eyes  upon  the  blank  darkness 
of  an  unsearchable  night.  Between  the  un- 
knowable God  of  agnosticism  and  the  unlov- 
able God  of  absolutism,  there  is  indeed  little 
to  choose.  But  the  choice,  such  as  it  is,  lies 
on  the  side  of  agnosticism.  It  is  unspeak- 
ably better  to  doubt  God's  personalitj^.  His 
sujDremac}^,  His  very  being,  than  it  is  to 
doubt  His  eternal  goodness  and  His  moral 
integrity. 

But  the  teaching  of  Jesus  is  designed  and 
fitted  to  deliver  us,  if  we  will  accept  it,  from 
both  of  these  doubts.  He  reveals  a  God  who 
is  not  only  Lord  of  all,  but  who  exercises  His 
sovereignty  in  discretion,  in  justice,  and  in 
love.  He  does  not  look  upon  all  His  creatures 
with  the  same  eyes.  He  discriminates,  He 
distinguishes,  He  has  regard  to  their  differ- 
ences of  nature  and  character.  The  human 
soul  is  of  more  value  to  Him  than  many  spar- 
rows.^ How  much  is  a  man  better  than  a 
sheep  ?  2  By  so  much  as  he  is  more  like  God, 
spiritual,  free,  responsible,  immortal.  These 
qualities,  which  God  Himself  has  created,  God 
Himself  respects.  Everj^  word  of  Jesus  takes  it 
1  St.  Matt.  X.  31.        2  St.  Matt.  xii.  12. 


Sovereignty  265 

for  granted  that  God  is  not  an  infinite  Auto-  God  is  a 
crat,  a  hard  master,  reaping  where  He  has  not  ^'''''''''''^''^ 
sown,  and  gathering  where  He  has  not  strewed, 
but  a  fair  and  equitable  Lord,  who  takes  into 
consideration  all  the  conditions  of  His  subjects 
and  renders  unto  all  their  dues.  The  forces  of 
nature  obey  His  will  inevitabl}^  and  for  them 
there  is  neither  praise  nor  blame.  The  souls 
of  men  are  invited  to  love  Him,  and  com- 
manded to  serve  Him,  but  they  are  left  free  to 
choose  whether  they  will  obey  or  disobey,  and 
upon  their  choice  the  approval  and  blessing  of 
God  depend. 

Who  can  question  for  a  moment  that  this  is   The  divine 
the  view  of  the   divine  sovereignty  which  un-  Z^/S^m 
derlies  all  the  parables  of  Christ  ?     The  omnip-  in  action. 
otence  which  He  teaches  is  not  sheer,  absolute, 
unconditioned.     It  is   a  self -restrained  power. 
It  is  able  to  limit  itself,  to  act  in  such  a  way 
and  under  such  conditions  as   God  chooses  to 
create.     If  He  could  not  do  this,  He  would  not 
be    truly  omnipotent.     If   there  were    but  one 
method  in  wdiich  He  could  manifest  His  will, 
and  that  the  method  of  necessity.  He  would  be 
forever  shut  out  from  j^ersonal  relations,  wliich 
can  only  exist  where  there  are  different  wills, 
capable  of  agreement  or   disagreement,  of   co- 
operation  or  conflict,  of   harmony  or   discord. 


266  Sovereignty 

Jesus  believed  and  taught  that  God  has  actu- 
ally chosen  to  limit  the  autocratic  exercises  of 
His  sovereignty  by  creating  beings  who  have 
the  power  of  yielding  to  His  will  or  of  resist- 
ing it.i 

And  from  this  resistance  flow  all  the  evil, 
all  the  sorrow,  all  the  misery  of  the  world. 
God  does  not  ordain  sin.  God  does  not  even 
permit  sin,  in  the  sense  that  He  allows  it  to 
exist  without  opposition  and  condemnation  on 
His  part.  It  may  be  a  necessary  feature  of 
a  world  of  free  choice  and  moral  probation. 
Jesus  seems  to  imply  as  much  when  He  says 
"It  must  needs  be  that  offences  come."  But 
He  adds  at  once,  "  Woe  unto  that  man  by  whom 
the  offence  cometh."^  That  man  is  not  doing 
the  will  of  God.  He  is  a  rebel,  a  traitor,  an 
apostate.  Sin  is  a  perversion  of  the  heart  from 
its  true  purpose  just  as  blindness  is  a  perver- 
sion of  tlie  eye  from  its  true  function, ^  When 
the  tares  appear  in  the  field,  Christ  does  not 
leave  us  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that  they 
were  planted  by  the  same  hand  that  sowed  the 
good  seed.  He  says,  "  An  enemy  hath  done 
this."^  Satan,  who  is  the  embodiment  of  evil 
and  the  leader  of  all  who  are  opposed  to  God, 

1  See  Appendix,  note  57.     ^  gt.  Lnke  xi.  34-36. 

2  St.  Matt,  xviii.  7.  ^  gt.  Matt.  xiii.  28. 


Sovereignty  267 

is  the  great  enemy,  the  adversary  not  only  of 
souls,  but  also  of  the  Divine  will. 

Turn  for  a  moment  to  the  narrative  of  the  ^i'^'  is  the 
temptation  of  Christ. ^  He  was  led  up  by  the  ^nlmy.  ^^ 
Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of 
the  devil.  But  did  the  same  Spirit  lead  the 
devil?  Was  Satan  acting  under  the  divine 
sovereignty  in  the  same  sense,  in  the  same  way, 
that  Jesus  was  ?  Set  aside,  if  3^ou  will,  the 
question  of  the  personality  of  the  evil  one. 
There  Avas  a  suggestion  of  evil  before  the  mind 
of  Jesus.  Did  that  suggestion  come  from  the 
same  source  as  the  holy  strength  that  resisted  it, 
—  the  all-creating,  all-controlling  w411  of  God  ? 
Can  the  same  fountain  send  forth  sweet  and 
bitter  waters?  Why  then  should  the  one  be 
called  cursed  and  the  other  blessed?  Such  a 
view  simply  obliterates  all  moral  distinctions. 
It  completely  undermines  and  ruins  the  sig- 
nificance of  Christ's  life  as  a  free  obedience  to 
the  will  of  God,  and  it  utterl}^  paralyzes  His 
gospel  as  a  divine  call  to  men  to  enter  freely 
into  the  same  obedience. 

Jesus  teaches  very  distinctly  that  there  are  Tioo  spheres 
two  spheres  in  which  the  sovereignty  of  God  sovereignty. 
is  exercised,  —  in  heaven  and  on  earth. ^     These 

1  St.  Matt.  iv.  1-11. 

2  Beysclilag,  New  Testament  Theology,  vol.  i.,  pp.  84,  85. 


268 


Sovereignty 


Militant 
on  earth. 


two  spheres  are  not  conceived  locally  but  spirit- 
ually. They  are  realms  in  which  the  power  of 
God  is  working  under  different  conditions.     In 

Triumphant  {^Qr^y^^^  ^\^q  Divine  -will  is  unopposed,  and  there- 
in heaven.  ^^  ' 

fore  the  empire  of  heaven  is  peace  and  holiness 

and  unbroken  love.  On  earth  the  Divine  will 
is  opposed  and  resisted,  and  therefore  earth  is 
a  scene  of  conflict  and  sin  and  discord.  For 
this  reason  the  kingdom  of  heaven  must  come 
to  earth,  it  must  win  its  way,  it  must  strive 
with  the  kingdom  of  darkness  and  overcome  it. 
God's  sovereignty  in  heaven  is  triumphant. 
God's  sovereignty  on  earth  is  militant,  in  order 
that  it  may  triumph,  —  and  triumph  not  in  uni- 
versal destruction,  but  in  the  salvation  of  all 
who  will  submit  to  it  and  embrace  it  and  work 
with  it,  —  triumph  not  by  bare  force,  as  gravi- 
tation triumphs  over  stones,  but  by  holy  love, 
as  fatherly  wisdom  and  affection  triumph  over 
the  reluctance  and  rebellion  of  wayward  chil- 
dren. 

It  must  be  admitted  frankly  that  this  view 
of  Divine  sovereignty  does  not  seem  to  be 
consistent  with  the  theory  of  absolute  divine 
foreknowledge  of  all  volitions  and  all  events. ^ 
This  has  been  urged  as  a  fatal  objection  against 
it.  But  the  objection  cannot  be  pressed  because 
1  See  Appendix,  note  58.    ' 


Sovereignty  269 

it  lies  in  a  region  where  our  ignorance  is  so 
great  that  dogmatism  is,  to  say  the  least,  unbe- 
coming. There  may  be  some  way  of  reconcil- 
ing the  self-limitation  of  God's  omnipotence 
with  the  certainty  of  His  foreknowledge,  which 
is  beyond  the  reach  of  our  logic.  But  whether 
there  be  any  such  reconciliation  or  not,  one 
thing  is  clear :  we  have  not  the  right  to  make 
a  logical  statement  of  our  ignorance  of  one 
divine  attribute  a  reason  for  refusing  to  accept, 
frankly  and  sincerely,  Christ's  revelation  of 
the  mode  in  which  another  divine  attribute  is 
exercised. 

God  knows  everything.     But  when  we  say  Foreknoiv- 
that,  we   mean   simply  that   He   knows   every-  ^^^^^^^/^^^^^^^^^ 
thing  Avhich  can  be  the  object  of   knowledge,   the  facts. 
He  knows  all  things  as  they  are.     He  does  not 
know  them  as  they  are  not.     The  very  perfec- 
tion of   His   knowledge    consists   in   its   exact 
correspondence  with  the   nature  of  its  object. 
If  an  event  is  certain,  fixed,  and  foreordained, 
then  God  knows  it  as  certain,  fixed,  and  fore- 
ordained.    If  it  is  contingent  upon  the  free,  self- 
determining,  preferential  action  of  a  human  will, 
then  God  knows  that  it  is  contingent,  for  He 
Himself  has  foreordained  that  it  should  be  so. 

God  waits  to  hear  whether  His  children  will   ^^'^'^  ^<'«''''- 
call  upon  Him  in  their  distress;   and  if  they 


270 


Sovereignty 


Theproha- 
tion  of  men. 


The  Lord 
of  Hosts. 


call,  He  hears  and  helps  them.  If  Jesus  teaches 
anything,  He  teaches  that  prayer  really  in- 
fluences the  purpose  and  action  of  God.^ 

God  waits  to  see  whether  His  husbandmen 
will  return  to  Him  the  fruits  of  His  vineyard ; 
whether  they  will  receive  and  honour  the  mes- 
sengers whom  He  sends  unto  them  ;  and  if  they 
are  rejected.  He  sends  other  messengers ;  and 
last  of  all  He  sends  His  Son,  saying,  "It  may  be 
they  will  reverence  him."  2  But  when  this  last 
maybe  does  not  come  to  pass,  then  judgment 
falls  upon  the  wicked  husbandmen,  not  because 
they  have  fulfilled  the  secret  Avill  of  the  King, 
but  because  they  have  rebelled  against  Him. 

This  conception  of  God  in  His  world,  not  as 
the  mere  spectator  of  the  fulfilment  of  His 
own  immutable  decrees,  but  as  tlie  Lord  of 
Hosts,  presiding  over  the  great  scene  of  con- 
flict between  good  and  evil  in  the  souls  of 
men  Avho  can  only  attain  to  real  holiness 
through  real  liberty,  and  warring  mightily  on 
the  side  of  good  in  order  that  it  may  win  the 
victory,  infinitely  exalts  and  glorifies  Him. 
We  see  Him  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  as  the 
High  Captain  of  the  armies  of  love,  working 
salvation  in  the  midst  of  the  earth,  pleading 
with  men  to  accept  His  mercy,  warning  them 
1  See  Appendix,  note  59.  2  gt,  l^xke  xx,  13. 


liberty. 


Sovereignty  271 

to  escape  from  His  judgments,  sustaining  the 
good  in  their  goodness,  overthrowing  the 
wicked  in  their  wickedness,  bringing  light 
out  of  darkness  and  triumph  out  of  defeat, 
amid  all  strifes  and  storms  maintaining  His 
kingdom  of  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy 
in  the  Holy  Ghost.     His  sovereignty  embraces  Sovereignty 

T  Ti       j_  j_i  1  -11      emb7'aces 

human  liberty  as  the  ocean  surrounds  an  island. 
His  sovereignty  upholds  human  liberty  as  the 
air  upholds  a  flying  bird.  His  sovereignty 
defends  human  liberty  as  the  authority  of  a 
true  king  defends  the  liberty  of   his  subjects, 

—  nay,  rather,  as  the  authority  of  a  father 
tenderly  and  patiently  respects  and  protects 
the  spiritual  freedom  of  his  children  in  order 
that  they  may  learn  to  love  and  obey  him 
gladly  and  of  their  own  accord.  For  this  is 
the  end  of  God's  sovereignty :  that  His  king- 
dom may  come ;  that  His  will  may  be  done 
on  earth,  —  not  as  it  is  done  in  the  circling 
of   the  stars  or  in  the  blossoming  of   flowers, 

—  but  as  it  is  done  in  heaven,  where  created 
spirits  freely  strike  the  notes  that  blend  in 
perfect  harmony  with  tlie  music  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  where 

"  Thousands  at  his  bidding  speed 
And  post  o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest; 
They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait." 


272 


Sovereignty 


IV 


Boes  thit, 
create  un- 
certainty 9 


The  reserve 
of  power. 


Evil  tran- 
sient, good 
eternal. 


But  does  not  the  acknowledgment  that  God 
has  thus  limited  the  operation  of  His  sover- 
eignty on  earth  by  conditioning  His  actions 
upon  the  character  and  conduct  of  other  beings 
than  Himself,  throw  us  back  into  confusion  and 
uncertainty?  Does  it  not  make  the  course  of 
the  world  insecure  and  the  end  of  all  things 
doubtful  ? 

It  would  do  so  if  it  Avere  not  for  the  other 
truth  which  Jesus  reveals  with  equal  clearness, 
that  God  is  in  the  world  guiding,  ruling,  and 
directing  it,  and  that  He  has  kept  the  suprem- 
acy in  His  own  hands.  His  presence  is  the 
talisman  of  creation.  He  is  the  master  of  the 
ship ;  His  hand  is  on  the  helm ;  and  whether 
the  sailors  obey  or  mutiny.  He  will  guide  the 
vessel  to  her  appointed  haven. 

The  2^ower  of  evil  is  a  finite,  transient,  self- 
destroying  power.  It  disintegrates,  it  dies,  it 
passes  away  with  the  enfeeblement  and  de- 
struction of  the  soul  that  yields  to  it.  But 
the  power  of  goodness  is  eternal  and  incor- 
ruptible, because  it  is  of  God.  Satan  is  the 
prince  of  this  world,  but  his  might  is  limited 
to  the  perverted  and  enslaved  wills  that  sub- 
mit  to    him.     He    is   not  the  ruler  of   nature. 


rock  of  our 
trust. 


Sovereignty  273 

God  is  the  master  of  winds  and  waves  and 
earth  and  stars.  The  great  battalions  are  on 
His  side  and  under  His  control.  If  for  one 
instant  the  cause  of  Christ  were  in  real  dan- 
ger, He  could  summon  celestial  hosts  without 
number  to  His  assistance. ^  Bat  because  He 
knew  this,  He  knew  also  that  His  cause  was 
never  in  danger.  He  knew  that  His  kingdom 
was  an  everlasting  kingdom.  He  knew  that 
He  had  already  overcome  the  world. 

How  serene  and  splendid  are  the  words  with  (^loa  the 
which  He  reassures  His  disciples,  again  and 
again!  ^^ Fear  not!  Care  not!  Be  7iot  anx- 
ious !  0  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou 
doubt?  Have  faith  in  Qod !  Upon  this  rock 
will  I  build  my  church  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall 
7iot  prevail  against  it!  Fear  not,  little  flock,  for 
it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you  the 
ki^igdom!''  How  glorious  is  the  vision  of  that 
kingdom  which  Jesus  unfolds  as  He  looks  for- 
ward to  the  new  birth  of  earth  and  heaven  in 
the  perfect  fulfilment  of  the  pui-pose  of  God ! 
How  absolute  is  the  confidence  with  which  He 
rests  upon  God's  power  to  work  out  all  that 
may  be  needed  to  bring  about  that  blessed 
consummation.  The  unwavering  faith  of  Jesus 
in  the  permanence  and  w^orld-wide  diffusion  and 
1  St.  Matt.  xxvi.  53. 


274 


Sovereignty 


The  inspv^a- 
tion  of 
heroism. 


The  secret 
of  courage. 


ultimate  triumph  of  His  kingdom  of  truth  and 
holiness  and  love,  is  not  the  least  —  some- 
times I  think  it  is  the  greatest  —  evidence 
of  His  divinity  and  charm  of  His  gospel. 

Communicated  by  His  divine  influence  to  the 
hearts  of  His  disciples,  this  faith  has  been  a 
force  of  incalculable  potency  and  inspiration  in 
the  lives  of  men.  The  noblest  deeds  of  liero- 
ism  and  self-sacrifice  and  liberation  have  been 
wrought  in  the  strength  of  it.  The  greatest 
conquests  over  self  and  sin,  the  supreme  vic- 
tories of  righteousness  and  love  and  peace  in 
human  hearts,  have  been  won  through  this  faith. 
Deus  vult  —  God  wills  it !  —  is  the  war-cry  that 
rouses  the  human  will  to  its  highest  endeavour. 

Here  is  a  man  struggling  against  evil,  long- 
ing and  striving  to  rise  to  high  and  holy  life. 
And  if  he  is  alone  in  the  struggle,  what  assur- 
ance has  he,  what  promise  or  hope  of  success  ? 
He  may  fail,  he  may  perish.  But  when  tlie 
p'reat  truth  flashes  into  his  heart  that  God  is 
with  him  in  the  fight,  that  God  is  "not  will- 
ing that  any  should  perish  but  that  all  should 
come  to  repentance,"^  that  God  is  the  captain 
of  his  salvation  and  the  leader  of  his  soul, 
—  then  he  is  emancipated,  then  he  triumphs, 
then  he  is  joined  to  the  Invincible.  He  cries 
1  2  Pet.  iii.  9. 


Sovereignty  275 

Avith  Paul,  "If   God  is  for  us,  who  is  against 
us  ?  "  1 

Here  is  a  saint  called  to  endure  sharp  and  The 
heavy  trials,  to  drink  the  bitter  waters  of 
affliction,  to  pass  through  the  hres  of  pain,  to 
go  down  into  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow. 
Alone,  it  would  be  impossible  ;  human  patience 
could  not  endure  it,  human  courage  could  not 
face  it,  human  Avisdom  could  not  solve  the  mys- 
ter}^  of  goodness  called  to  suffer.  But  with 
God,  believing  that  He  is  sovereign,  and  that 
He  is  love,  —  how  different  it  is  !  Now  you 
shall  see  the  wondrous  spectacle  of  a  frail,  gen- 
tle, mortal  soul,  strengthened  by  simple  sub- 
mission to  God's  will,  persecuted  but  not  for- 
saken, cast  down  but  not  destroyed,  trembling 
but  victorious.  Such  a  soul  cries  :  "  The  will 
of  God  be  done.  It  cannot  be  His  will  that  I 
should  lose  my  faith.  It  cannot  be  His  will 
that  I  should  deny  Him.  It  cannot  be  His 
will  that  I  should  be  lost,  for  He  is  good.  He  is 
my  King,  my  Father,  He  will  save  me.  It 
may  be  His  will  that  I  should  suffer  trial  for 
the  purifying  of  my  faith,  for  a  more  perfect 
fellowship  with  Christ,  for  a  better  reward  in 
heaven.  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth 
good  in  Thy  sight. 

1  Rom.  viii.  31. 


strength  of 
endurance. 


God  in 
history. 


276  Sovereignty 

"  I  welcome  all  Thy  sovereign  will, 
For  all  that  will  is  love  ; 
And  when  I  know  not  what  Thou  dost, 
I  wait  the  light  above." 

How  radiant  and  magnificent  is  that  truth 
as  it  appears  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  The 
people  of  God  have  often  been  persecuted  and 
oppressed,  yet  God  has  been  on  their  side,  and 
no  weapon  that  has  been  formed  against  them 
has  prospered.  Here  is  Philip  of  Spain  send- 
ing his  great  Armada  to  crush  the  Reformed 
Church  of  England  and  destroy  religious  lib- 
erty in  the  cradle.  Like  a  huge  flock  of  vul- 
tures with  outspread  wings  and  fierce  talons 
and  harsh  innumerable  cries  of  menace,  that 
most  terrific  company  of  war-ships  that  ever 
darkened  air  and  sea  swoops  towards  its  prey. 
But  the  wrath  of  God  meets  it  on  the  ocean, 
and  drives  disorder  through  its  serried  ranks ; 
the  swift  little  ships  of  England  pierce  it,  and 
break  its  wings,  and  riddle  it  with  terror  ;  its 
onset  is  changed  to  flight,  and  as  it  flies,  the  angry 
blasts  of  heaven  and  the  wild  waves  of  wrath 
catch  it  again,  and  whirl  it  away,  and  scatter 
on  a  hundred  rocky  shores  and  lonely  beaches 
the  wrecks  and  fragments  of  the  lost  Armada. 
How  often  has  that  wondrous  history  been 
repeated  !      How   often   has    God   proved    His 


Sovereignty  277 

sovereignty  by  preserving  and  rescuing  and 
delivering  His  people  from  overwhelming 
perils  !  Even  when  it  has  seemed  to  be  other- 
wise, even  when  the  Church  has  appeared  for- 
saken and  helpless,  when  the  billows  of  perse- 
cution have  rolled  fathom-deep  above  her  head, 
when  avalanches  of  falsehood  have  buried  the 
truth  out  of  sight,  it  has  only  been  for  a  time, 
and  the  end  has  been  the  victory  of  the  de- 
feated. The  blood  of  the  martyrs  has  been 
the  seed  of  the  Church.  The  boastful  shouts  of  Truth  ami 
error  have  been  the  advertisement  of  the  silent 
truth.  Error  has  had  kings  and  generals, 
philosophers  and  orators,  empires  and  armies  ; 
truth  has  had  God.  Error  has  had  swords  and 
spears,  ships  and  cannons,  fortresses  and  dun- 
geons, racks  and  fires ;  truth  has  had  God. 
God  and  one  make  a  majority.  Unless  the 
Church  doubts,  she  cannot  fear.  Unless  the 
Church  denies,  she  cannot  despair.  In  the  dark- 
est days,  when  the  confusion  seems  greatest, 
the  conflict  most  unequal,  she  can  look  out  on 
the  great  battle-field  and  cry 

''  History's  pages  but  record 
One  death-grapple  in  the  darkness  'twixt  old  systems  and 

the  Word ; 
Truth  forever  on  the   scaffold,  Wrong  forever  on  the 

tlirone,  — 


278 


Sovereignty 


The  victory 
is  sure. 


The  final 
consumma- 
tion. 


Yet  that  scaffold  sways  the  future,  and  behind  the  dim 

unknown 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch  above 

His  own."  1 

But  is  it  for  the  Church  alone,  is  it  not  for 
the  whole  world  that  this  truth  of  God's  sov' 
ereignty  shines  ?  To  our  eyes  the  conflict  of 
life  and  death,  of  good  and  evil,  seems  to  be 
undecided,  and  we  think  it  may  be  perpetual. 
The  dust  blinds  us  ;  the  uproar  bewilders  us  ; 
as  far  as  our  sight  can  pierce  we  see  nothing 
but  the  rolling  strife,  —  sin  always  in  arms 
against  holiness,  the  created  will  always  resist- 
ing and  defying  the  creator.  But  Christ  sees  that 
the  conflict  is  decided,  though  it  is  still  in  prog- 
ress. Christ  sees  that  the  victory  is  won, 
though  it  is  not  yet  manifest.  On  the  hill  of 
the  cross  the  captain  of  salvation  met  the  cap- 
tain of  sin  and  conquered  him.  Calvary  is 
victory.  Through  death  Christ  hath  overcome 
him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the 
devil. ^  Satan  has  received  his  mortal  wound  ; 
and  if  he  still  fights  more  fiercely,  it  is  because 
he  knoweth  that  he  hath  but  a  short  time.^  The 
day  is  coming  when  he  must  perish  ;  the  day  is 
coming  when  sin  and  strife  shall  be  no  more  ; 


1  James  Eussell  Lowell,  The  Present  Crisis. 

2  Heb.  ii.  14.  3  i>ev.  xii.  12. 


Sovereignti/  279 

the  day  is  coming  when  Christ  shall  put  all 
enemies  under  His  feet^  and  shout  above  the 
grave  of  death,  ' '  O  thou  enemy,  destructions 
are  come  to  a  perpetual  end  "  ;  the  day  is  com- 
ing when  the  great  ship  of  the  world,  guided 
by  the  hand  of  the  Son  of  God,  shall  float  out 
of  the  clouds  and  storms,  out  of  the  shadows 
and  conflicts,  into  the  perfect  light  of  love,  and 
God  shall  be  all  in  all.  The  tide  that  bears  the 
world  to  that  glorious  end  is  the  sovereignty 
of  God. 

O  mighty  river,  strong,  eternal  Will, 
In  which  the  streams  of  human  good  and  ill 
Are  onward  swept,  conflicting,  to  the  sea, — 
The  world  is  safe  because  it  floats  in  Thee. 

1  1  Cor.  XV.  25-28. 


VIII 

SERVICE 


"  Thyself  and  thy  belongings 
Are  not  thine  own  so  proper  as  to  waste 
Thyself  upon  thy  virtues,  they  on  thee. 
Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 
'Not  light  them  for  themselves ;  for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  't  were  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not.     Spirits  are  not  finely  touched 
But  to  fine  issues ;  nor  Nature  never  lends 
The  smallest  scruple  of  her  excellence, 
But,  like  a  thrifty  goddess,  she  determines 
Herself  the  glory  of  a  creditor  — 
Both  thanks  and  use." 

—  Measure  for  Measure. 


VIII 

SERVICE 

That  strange  and  searching  genins,  Nathaniel  This  uneven 
Hawthorne,  in  one  of  his  spiritual  phantasies 
has  imagined  a  new  Adam  and  Eve  coming  to 
the  earth  after  a  Day  of  Doom  has  swept  aw^ay 
the  whole  of  mankind,  leaving  their  w^orks  and 
abodes  and  inventions,  —  all  that  bears  witness 
to  the  present  condition  of  humanity,  —  un- 
touched and  silently  eloquent.  The  represent- 
atives of  a  new  race  enter  with  wonder  and 
dismay  the  forsaken  heritage  of  the  old.  They 
pass  through  the  streets  of  a  depopulated  city. 
The  sharp  contrast  between  the  splendour  of 
one  habitation  and  the  squalor  of  another,  fills 
them  with  distressed  astonishment.  They  are 
painfully  amazed  at  the  unmistakable  signs  of 
inequality  in  the  conditions  of  men.  They  are 
troubled  and  overwhelmed  by  the  evidence  of 
the  great  and  miserable  fact  that  one  portion 
of  earth's  lost  inhabitants  was  rich  and  com- 
fortable and  full  of  ease,  while  the  multitude 
283 


284  Service 

was    poor    and   weary    and   heavy-laden   with 
toil.i 
The  sense  of       This  feeling  of  sorrowfnl  perplexity  over  the 

distress  at  V  j.     •     •      j_-  p    i 

life's  ine-  unevenness  and  apparent  mjustice  oi  human 
quality.  life,  which  the  prose  poet  puts  into  the  heart 
of  his  new  Adam  and  Eve,  is  really  but  a  reflec- 
tion from  the  tender  and  pitiful  depths  of  his 
own.  Who  is  there  that  has  not  sometimes 
felt  it  rising  within  his  own  breast,  —  tliis  pro- 
found sentiment  of  inward  trouble  and  grief, 
this  feeling  of  spiritual  discord  and  wondering 
repugnance  at  the  sight  of  a  world  in  which  the 
good  things  of  life  are  so  unequally  distributed, 
in  which  at  the  very  outset  of  existence,  before 
the  factor  of  personal  merit  or  demerit,  the 
element  of  work  and  wages,  enters  into  the 
problem  at  all,  so  much  is  given  to  one  man 
and  so  little  to  another  man  that  they  seem  to 
be  forever  separated  and  set  at  enmity  with 
each  other  by  the  unfairness  with  which  they 
are  treated? 
The  sympa-  This  Sentiment  has  been  strangely  deepened 
and  intensified  in  the  nineteenth  century  by 
innumerable  causes,  until  it  has  become  one  of 
the  most  marked  characteristics  of  the  present 
age.     Never  before  have  men  felt  the  sorrows 

1  Hawthorne's  Works,  Riverside  Edition,  1884  ;    Mosses 
from  an  Old  3Ianse,  p.  297. 


thy  of  the 
age 


Service  285 

and  hardships  of  their  fellow-men  so  widely,  so 
keenly,  so  constantly  as  to-day.  In  one  sense 
this  is  the  honour  and  glory  of  our  age.  It  is 
an  evidence  of  quickened  moral  sensibility,  a 
revival  or  renewal  of  the  noblest  capacities  of 
our  human  nature. 

But  in  another  sense  it  is  the  greatest  peril  A  noble 
of  our  age.  For  it  has  been  seized  by  the  spirit  %^-^^"^^fQ 
of  scepticism  and  transformed  into  an  ally  of  madness. 
annihilating  doubt.  It  has  been  used  as  an 
argument  against  the  possibility  of  discovering 
a  moral  order  in  such  a  "hungry,  ill-condi- 
tioned world"  as  this.  Man's  inhumanity  to 
man  has  been  employed  to  prove  God's  indiffer- 
ence or  injustice  to  man.  The  feeling  of  sor- 
row and  perplexity  has  been  aggravated  by 
wild  and  whirling  words  into  a  passion  of 
resentment  against  the  present  conditions  of 
life.  Rash  and  sweeping  schemes  for  their 
total  destruction  have  been  proclaimed  as  a  new 
gospel.  Christianity  has  been  first  claimed  as 
a  supporter  of  these  schemes,  and  then  de- 
nounced and  repudiated  as  the  chief  obstacle 
to  their  success.  The  cry  goes  up  that  the 
whole  world  is  out  of  joint.  "  Everything  is 
wrong  and  crooked  and  unfair :  the  race  of 
man  has  been  deceived  and  maltreated  and 
oppressed  by  the  creation  of  such  an  order  of 


286  Service 

life  as  the  present.  If  God  created  it,  so  much 
the  worse  for  God.  But  it  is  ahnost  certain 
that  He  did  not  create  it,  almost  certain  that 
there  is  no  God.  The  world  of  inequality  is 
man's  mistake.  There  is  hut  one  thing  to  do, 
and  that  is  to  break  it  all  up,  at  once  and 
utterly,  and  begin  anew.  Create  a  new  world 
if  possible.  If  not,  then  let  the  old  wreck  sink 
and  be  blotted  out,  for  it  is  worse,  infinitely 
worse,  than  the  blank  desolation  of  an  uncon- 
scious chaos." 
What  shall  This  cry  of  anger  and  despair  rings  to- 
day in  the  ears  of  all  earnest  and  thoughtful 
men  and  women.  The  element  of  sincerity, 
of  truth,  of  justice,  that  thrills  unmistakably 
through  its  strange,  fierce  music,  stirs  our 
hearts  to  the  core.  We  are  filled  with  per- 
turbation and  distress  and  deep  anxiety  to 
know  the  right  and  to  do  it,  to  understand  the 
meaning  of  this  exceeding  great  and  bitter  cry, 
and  the  duty  to  which  it  calls  us.  Is  it  mdeed 
the  utterance  of  true  equity  and  wisdom  ?  Is 
it  the  voice  of  a  new  Adam,  appearing  after  so 
many  ages  of  delusion,  with  open  eyes  to  con- 
demn the  old  world,  and  with  ruthless  hand  to 
break  it  in  pieces  ?  Must  we  welcome  him  and 
hearken  to  him  and  believe  in  him,  as  the  true 
judge  and  regenerator  and  leader  of  mankind  ? 


Service  287 

The  very  form  of   the    question   points   the   Christ's 

way  to  the   only  Master   who    can   answer   it.   «"«^««';«'"^ 
•^  '^  example. 

Hawthorne's  picture  of  the  second  Adam  was 
a  poetic  dream.  But  the  Apostle  Paul  uses  the 
same  figure  to  reveal  a  historic  truth.  "The 
first  man  Adam  became  a  living  soul.  The  last 
Adam  became  a  life-giving  spirit.  Howbeit 
that  is  not  first  which  is  spiritual,  but  that 
which  is  natural ;  then  that  which  is  spiritual. 
The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy  ;  the 
second  man  is  of  heaven."  ^  The  new  Adam 
has  already  come  upon  the  earth,  eighteen  cen- 
turies ago.  He  was  called  Jesus.  With  pure 
and  perfect  heart  He  entered  into  the  world, 
not  desolate  and  depopulate,  but  thronged  Avith 
the  myriads  of  toiling,  suffering  men.  With 
clear  eyes  He  looked  upon  their  different  con- 
ditions, their  manifold  inequalities,  their  out- 
ward and  inward  joys  and  sorrows.  With 
steadfast  heart  He  set  Himself  to  the  divine 
task  of  beginning  a  new  humanity  and  inaugu- 
rating the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth. 

He  did  not  strive  nor  cry,  neither  was  His  His  caim- 
voice  heard  in  the  streets. ^     He  did  not  protest  '^^^^ "'" 

-•-  sanity. 

against  the  moral  government  of  the  universe, 

because  one  man  was  rich   and   another  poor, 

one  strong  and  another  weak,  one  happy  and 

1  1  Cor.  XV.  45-47.        2  gt.  Matt.  xii.  19. 


288  Service 

another  wretched,  one  good  and  another  evil. 
He  did  not  say  that  God  must  be  unjust  be- 
cause He  has  given,  in  things  spiritual  as  well 
as  in  things  temporal,  much  to  one  and  little 
to  another.  He  did  not  teach  His  followers 
that  the  only  way  to  help  the  world  was  to 
rebel  against  this  order,  and  refuse  to  submit 
to  it,  and  denounce  it,  and  fight  against  it. 
He  did  not  even  proclaim  a  social  and  political 
revolution.  He  was  the  most  peaceful,  orderly, 
obedient,  loyal  citizen  of  all  that  subject  land  of 
Palestine  ;  rendering  unto  Ciesar  the  things 
that  were  Ciesar's,  discharging  every  duty  of 
His  lowly  lot  with  cheerful  fidelity,  and  labour- 
ing patiently  for  His  daily  bread. 
He  knoivs  He  was  not  blind,  nor  dull  of  heart  to  feel 

the  troubles  of  life.  The  problem  of  inequality 
lay  wide  open  before  Him.  But  it  did  not 
agitate  nor  distract  Him.  He  neither  raved 
nor  despaired.     He  was  serene  and  sane. 

"  He  saw  life  clearly  and  He  saw  it  whole." 

He  looked  through  the  problem  to  its  true 
solution.  He  knew  the  secret  which  justifies 
the  ways  of  God  to  man.  He  knew  the  secret 
by  which  an  eternal  harmony  is  to  be  brought 
into  the  apparent  discords  of  life.  He  knew 
the  secret  by  which  men  living  in  an  unequal 


the  secret. 


Service  289 

world,  and  accepting  its  inequality  as  the  con- 
dition of  their  present  existence,  can  still  be- 
come partakers  of  a  perfect,  peaceful  equity, 
and  citizens  of  an  invisible,  imperishable  city 
of  God.  That  secret  was  none  other  than  the 
highest,  holiest  doctrine  of  Jesus,  the  divine 
truth  of  election  to  service. 


Before   we   set   our   hearts   to   take    in   the   Christ's 
meaning  and  the  fulness  of  this  truth,   let  us  d^^P^^M 

.  PI  ^^^^  present 

try  to  get  them  m  tune  for  it  by  listening  to  loorid. 
some  of  the  other  teachings  of  Jesus  which  are 
meant  to  quiet  and  steady  us  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  unevenness  of  human  existence. 

And  first  of  all  He  reminds  us  that  our  real 
happiness  in  this  world  does  not  depend  upon 
our  outward  condition,  but  upon  our  inward 
state.  "  The  life  is  more  than  meat  and  the 
body  than  raiment."^  "A  man's  life  consist- 
eth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which 
he  possesseth."2  'pj^g  land  of  wealth  is  not  the 
empire  of  peace.  Joy  is  not  bounded  on  the 
north  by  poverty,  on  the  east  by  obscurity,  on 
the  west  by  simplicity,  and  on  the  south  by 
servitude.      It  runs  far  over  these   borders  on 

1  St.  Matt.  vi.  25.         -  St.  Luke  xii.  15. 
u 


290  Service 

every  side.  The  lowliest,  plainest,  narrowest 
life  may  be  the  SAveetest.  Most  of  the  disciples 
of  Jesus  were  peasants,  but  they  were  as  happy, 
as  contented,  even  in  this  world,  as  if  they  had 
been  princes.  There  was  more  gladness  and 
singleness  of  heart  in  that  frugal  breakfast  of 
broiled  fish  and  bread  beside  the  boats  on  the 
shore  of  the  sea  of  Tiberias,^  tlian  in  the 
splendid  feast  in  the  house  of  Simon  the  Phari- 
see. Life  has  its  compensations  and  its  com- 
forts for  all  estates.  Work  means  health. 
Obscurity  means  freedom.  The  best  pleasures 
are  those  that  are  most  widely  diffused. 
The  secret  of  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Jesus  overlooked 
the  bitter  hardships  of  toil  under  bad  masters, 
under  false  and  cruel  and  oppressive  laws.  I 
do  not  mean  to  say  that  He  would  not  have 
been  full  of  pity  and  indignation  at  the  sight 
of  the  crushed  and  crippled  state  of  great  mul- 
titudes of  human  beings  in  our  modern  cities. 
But  I  am  sure  that  He  teaches  us  to  believe 
that  the  real  source  of  human  misery  is  not  in 
poverty,  but  in  a  bad  heart;  that  envy  is  not  a 
virtue,  but  a  vice  ;  that  life  is  a  great  gift  to  all 
who  will  receive  it  cheerfully  and  contentedly, 
even  in  a  world  wliere  its  material  things  are 
unevenly  distributed  ;  and  that  the  true  beati- 
1  St.  John  xxi.  1-13. 


happiness. 


Service  291 

tudes  are  not  monopolies  reserved  for  the  few, 
but  blessings  within  the  reach  of  all,  and  glori- 
ously independent  of  all  outward  contrasts  in  the 
lives  of  men.  Indeed  it  seems  as  if  He  Avould 
go  even  beyond  this,  and  remind  us  that  some 
of  these  blessings  could  not  be  ours  except  in  a 
world  of  contrast  and  temporal  inequality.  Of 
the  eight  beatitudes  which  Jesus  Himself  pro- 
nounced, four  at  least, — the  blessing  of  the 
mourners,  and  of  the  meek,  and  of  the  mer- 
ciful, and  of  the  peace-makers,  —  imply  the 
existence  of  differences  and  degrees  among 
men ;  and  one  —  the  blessing  of  those  who  are 
persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake  —  is  only 
possible  in  a  world  where  evil  is  sometimes 
actually  more  powerful  and  prosperous  than 
good. 

I  have  not  been  able  to  find  a  single  word  of   The  compen- 

Christ  that  looks  forward  to  a  time   in  Avhich  ^f'*^^^*^-/ 

li/e. 

there  shall  be  no  more  inequalities  on  earth,  no 
more  rich  and  poor,  no  more  masters  and  ser 
vants,  no  more  wise  men,  and  no  more  babeSo 
But  there  are  many  words  of  His  that  pierce 
with  mild  and  gracious  light  through  all  these 
outward  distinctions  to  reveal  the  truth  that 
this  kind  of  inequality  is  superficial  and  illusory, 
that  the  babes  rejoice  in  beholding  those  mys- 
teries Avhich  are  hidden  from  the  wise  and  pru- 


292  Service 

dent,  that  servants  are  often  nobler  and  more 
free  than  their  masters,  that  the  poor  may 
have  treasures  laid  up  in  heaven  which  are 
beyond  all  earthly  reckoning,  and  that  this  is 
the  true  wealth  which  brings  contentment  and 
peace. 
Peace  on  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  Jesus 

preached  a  gospel  which  was  melancholy  and 
depressing  for  those  who  received  it  in  this 
world.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
He  taught  men  that  they  must  resign  them- 
selves to  earthly  misery  and  make  the  journey 
of  life  as  a  weary  and  mournful  pilgrimage. 
He  came  to  cheer  and  brighten  the  hearts  of 
all  who  would  accept  His  guidance  and  tread 
the  path  of  virtue  with  courage  and  fidelity  and 
hope.  He  came  to  give  us  rest  in  the  midst  of 
toil,  and  that  refreshment  which  only  comes 
from  weariness  in  a  good  cause.  He  came  to 
tell  us  not  to  despair  of  happiness,  but  to  re- 
member that  the  only  way  to  reach  it  on  earth 
is  to  seek  first  usefulness,  first  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  then  the  other  things  shall  be  added. 
He  that  loseth  his  life  for  Christ's  sake  shall 
not  lose  it  but  find  \i}  —  find  it  in  deep  inward 
contentment, 

"  And  vital  feelings  of  delight," 
1  St.  Matt.  X.  39. 


Service  293 

which  make  up  the  true  and  incomparable  joy 
of  living. 

Jesus  does  not  differ  from  other  masters  in  The  secret 
that  He  teaches  us  to  scorn  earthly  felicity.  ^  ^  ^^^  ^* 
The  divine  difference  is  that  He  teaches  us  how 
to  attain  earthly  felicity,  under  all  circum- 
stances, in  prosperity  and  in  adversity,  in  sick- 
ness and  in  health,  in  solitude  and  in  society, 
by  taking  His  yoke  upon  us,  and  doing  the 
will  of  God,  and  so  finding  rest  unto  our  souls. 
That  is  the  debt  which  every  child  of  God  owes 
not  only  to  God,  but  also  to  his  own  soul,  — 
to  find  the  real  joy  of  living. 

"Joy  is  a  duty,"  —  so  with  golden  lore  Joy  is  a 

The  Hebrew  rabbis  taught  in  days  of  yore.  duty. 

And  happy  human  hearts  heard  in  their  speech 
Almost  the  highest  wisdom  man  can  reach. 

But  one  bright  peak  still  rises  far  above, 

And  there  the  Master  stands  whose  name  is  Love, 

Saying  to  those  whom  heavy  tasks  employ 

"  Life  is  divine  when  duty  is  a  joy." 

The  second  point  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus  The  icorid 
which  is  meant  to  rectify  our  views  of  the  un-  ^.^^^g^ 
evenness  of  the  world,  is  His  doctrine  of  a  future 
life,  —  not  a  different  life,  but  the  same  life  mov- 
ing on  under  new  conditions  and  to  new  issues. 
This  world  is  not  all.  There  is  another  world,  a 
better  age,  a  more  perfect  state  of  being,  in  which 


294  Service 

the  sorrows  and  losses  of  those  who  now  suffer 
unjustly  will  be  compensated,  and  in  which — 
let  us  not  hesitate  to  say  it  as  calmly  and  as 
firmly  as  Jesus  said  it  —  those  who  have  un- 
justly and  selfishly  enjoyed  their  good  things 
in  this  world  will  suffer  in  their  turn.  It  is 
the  fashion  nowadays  to  sneer  at  such  teaching 
as  this  ;  to  call  it  "  other-worldliness " ;  to 
declare  that  it  has  no  real  power  to  strengthen 
or  uplift  the  hearts  of  men.  Jesus  did  not 
think  so.  Jesus  made  much  of  it.  Jesus 
pressed  home  upon  the  hearts  of  men  the  con- 
solations and  warnings  of  immortality.  He 
showed  the  miserable  failure  of  the  man  who 
filled  his  barns  and  lost  his  empty  soul.^  He 
bade  His  disciples,  when  they  suffered  and  Avere 
persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake,  "  rejoice  and 
be  exceeding  glad,  for  great  is  your  reward 
in  heaven."  ^ 

Let  us  not  impoverish  our  gospel  by  flinging 
away,  in  our  fancied  superiority,  this  precious 
balance  of  truth.  It  is  impossible  to  justify  the  present 
fragmentary  existence  of  man  if  we  look  at  it 
and  speak  of  it  as  the  whole  of  his  life.  Earth 
has  mysteries  which  naught  but  heaven  can 
explain.  Earth  has  sorrows  which  naught  but 
heaven  can  heal.  Yes,  and  earth  has  evils, 
1  St.  Luke  xii.  16-21.        2  st.  Matt.  v.  12. 


The  errors 
of  time  call 
for  the 


Service  295 

black  and  secret  offences  of  man  against  man, 
false  and  foul  treasons  against  the  love  of  God, 
crimes  which  take  a  base  advantage  of  His  pa- 
tience and  long-suffering  and  hide  themselves 
like  poisonous  serpents  in  the  shelter  of  the 
very  laws  which  He  has  made  for  the  good  of 
the  world,  sins  all  entangled  with  the  present 
structure  of  society  and  beyond  the  reach  of 
human  law,  undiscoverable  iniquities,  unpardon- 
able and  unpunishable  cruelties, — which  naught 
but  hell  can  disclose  and  consume.  The  errors 
of  time  call  for  the  balance  of  eternity.  Pa- 
tient labour,  patient  endurance,  patient  resig- 
nation in  this  present  life  shall  be  greatly 
rewarded  in  the  life  to  come.  Now  is  the  day 
of  toil  and  trial ;  but  the  pay-day  will  surely 
dawn.  Much  of  the  best  that  is  done  in  this 
world  receives  no  earthly  wages.  Those  to 
whom  it  is  done,  —  the  poor,  the  maimed,  the 
lame,  the  blind,  —  ''  they  cannot  recompense 
thee  ;  but  thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the 
resurrection  of  the  just."^ 

Thus  Jesus  teaches  ;  and  He  shoAvs  us  that   This  wi- 
the present   order   of   inequality,  so   far   from  ^^r^^^/;^^. 
being  an  obstacle  to    this    result,  is    the    very  Hon  for  the 
means  by  which  it  is  to  be  accomplished.     The 
discipline  of  this  uneven  life  is  the  education 
1  St.  Luke  xiv.  14. 


296 


Service 


Fraternltij 
better  than 
equality. 


by  wliicli  alone  we  can  be  prepared  for  the 
heavenly  life.  Jesus  does  not  present  Himself 
as  a  rectifier  of  life's  unequal  conditions  of 
outward  fortune.  He  distinctly  refuses  this 
office.  "  Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  or  a 
divider  over  you?"^  Jesus  does  not  preach  an 
equality  which  is  synonymous  with  life  on  a 
dead  level.  He  does  not  preach  equality  at 
all.  He  preaches  fraternity.  And  frater- 
nity implies  differences,  —  older  and  younger, 
stronger  and  weaker,  higher  and  lower.  The 
elder  brother  is  the  heir ;  all  that  the  father 
has  is  his ;  but  his  sin  lies  in  holding  fast 
to  his  inheritance  selfishly,  in  shutting  out 
his  younger  brother,  in  forgetting  and  deny- 
Yfig  that  he  is  a  brother  at  all.^  The  distinc- 
tions of  life  are  not  meant  to  obscure,  but  to 
reveal  and  to  beautify  its  best  virtues.  Out  of 
dependence  spring  the  sweet  blossoms  of  grati- 
tude and  loyalty.  Out  of  mastership  flow  the 
refreshing  streams  of  forbearance  and  justice 
and  mercy.  The  apostle  tells  us  that  the  love 
of  money  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil.^ 
But  Christ  shows  us  the  deeper  truth  that 
the  right  use  of  money  is  a  means  of  all 
kinds  of  good.      "  It  is  more    blessed   to    give 


1  St.  Luke  xii.  14.        2  gt.  Luke  xv.  25-32. 
2  1  Tim.  vi.  10. 


Service  297 

than  to  receive."^  Every  gift  of  Providence 
to  us  is  an  opportunity  and  therefore  a  re- 
sponsibility, and  the  blessing  does  not  come 
with  the  gift  until  we  recognize  the  responsi- 
bility, and  use  the  opportunity.  The  mammon 
of  unrighteousness  can  only  be  destroyed  by 
a  process  of  transformation  which  transmutes 
it  into  the  pure  gold  of  the  celestial  treasury.^ 
The  name  of  that  process  is  charity.  And  the 
translation  of  that  name  is  wise  and  holy 
love.^ 

Let  us   try  to   think    distinctly.     It   is  said   Christianity 

1  ,1      ,    /^i     •    ,  •       • ,  •  and  Com- 

nowadays  that  Christianity  means  communism, 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  all  Christians  to 
give  away  everything  that  they  possess.  It 
is  strange  that  Christ  never  proclaimed  this 
duty  except  to  one  man,  and  that  man  was  not 
a  Christian.^  Of  course  it  must  be  admitted 
at  once  that  this  would  be  the  duty  of  all 
Christians  if  it  could  be  showifi  that  it  would 
be  for  the  real  Qfood  of  their  fellow-men.  But 
this  never  has  been  shown.  On  the  contrary, 
communism  has  always  turned  out  badly.  It 
was  tried  in  Jerusalem,  in  a  limited  way,  when 
the  early  Christians  sold  all  that  they  had  and 
made    a    common    purse ;    but    it   led,    in   less 

1  Acts  XX.  35.  3  See  Appendix,  note  GO. 

2  St.  Luke  xvi.  19.     *  St.  JNIark  x.  21. 


298  Service 

than  ten  years,  to  confusion  and  strife,  and 
sank  the  Jerusalem  church  into  a  condition 
of  pauperism  and  dependence  upon  the  other 
churches,  which  had  avoided  the  well-meant 
but  dangerous  experiment.  It  was  tried  in 
France,  under  atheistic  auspices,  and  its  fruit 
was  wide-spread  misery  and  injustice.  It  was 
tried  to  some  degree  in  England,  under  a  sys- 
tem of  poor  laws  which  were  based  upon  the 
idea  that  every  man  had  a  right  to  eat  whether 
he  would  work  or  not,  and  it  resulted  in  such 
disorder  and  demoralization  that  it  had  to  be 
discarded  as  a  menace  to  society. 
Love  thy  There  is  nothing  in  the  teachings  of  Christ 

which  would  make  us  blind  to  these  plain 
lessons  of  history.  On  the  contrary.  He  de- 
sires and  commands  us  to  discover  and  do  that 
which  will  really  bless  and  help  our  fellow- 
men.  ''  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thy- 
self," ^ —  the  same  kind  of  love,  the  same  in- 
ward regard  for  the  higher  ends  and  aims  of 
life,  which  is  the  savinof  g'race  of  the  indi- 
vidual  soul,  is  to  be  the  saving  grace  of  so- 
ciety.^  And  what  kind  of  love  is  that  ?  It 
is  a  wise  and  holy  love,  a  love  which  puts 
character  first  and  comfort  second,  a  love  which 
seeks  to  purify  and  bless  and  uplift  the  whole 
1  St.  Matt.  xxii.  89.        2  gee  Appendix,  note  CI. 


neighhour 
as  loisely 
and  well  as 
tliyself. 


Service  299 

man.  Such  a  love  may  be  shown  by  withhokl- 
ing  as  truly  as  by  bestowing.  False  charity 
pampers  self  and  pauperizes  others.  True  char- 
ity educates  self  by  helping  others.  The  so- 
called  Christian  who  never  gives  is  a  false 
Christian.  The  Christian  who  gives  carelessly, 
blindly,  indiscriminately,  however  generously, 
is  a  very  imperfect  Christian.  The  Christian 
who  gives  thoughtfully,  seriously,  fraternally, 
bending  his  best  powers  to  the  accomplishment 
of  a  real  benefaction  of  his  fellow-men,  bestow- 
ing himself  with  his  gift,  is  in  the  true  and 
only  way  of  the  following  of  Jesus. 

Preach  this  truth.  Preach  it  home  to  the  Every  pHvi- 
hearts  of  men,  without  fear  or  favour  for  rich  tUl^l^f^T 
or  poor.  Preach  it  home  to  your  own  heart 
so  close  that  it  shall  save  you  from  the  min- 
ister's besetting  sins  of  spiritual  selfishness  and 
cant.  Tell  the  Lady  Bountiful  that  she  is  not 
called  to  discard  her  ladyhood,  but  to  give  her- 
self with  all  her  refinements,  with  all  her  ac- 
complishments, with  all  that  has  been  given  to 
her  of  sweetness  and  light,  to  the  ennobling 
service  of  lunnanity.  Tell  the  Merchant-Prince 
that  he  is  not  called  to  abandon  his  place  of 
influence  and  power,  but  to  fill  it  in  a  princely 
spirit,  to  be  a  true  friend  and  father  to  all  who 
are  dependent  upon  him,  to  make  his  prosper- 


300  Se^'vice 

ity  a  fountain  of  blessing  to  his  fellow-men,  to 
be  a  faithful  steward  of  Almighty  God.  And 
then  let  us  tell  ourselves,  as  members  of  the 
so-called  "  educated  classes,"  to  whom  God  has 
given  even  greater  gifts  than  those  of  rank  and 
riches, — privileges  of  knowledge,  opportunities 
of  culture,  free  access  to  the  stored-up  wisdom 
of  the  ages,  —  let  us  tell  ourselves  with  un- 
flinching fidelity  that  God  will  hold  us  to  a 
strict  account  for  all  these  things.  If  our  salt 
loses  its  savour  it  shall  be  trodden  under  foot 
of  men.  If  our  culture  separates  us  from  hu- 
manity we  shall  be  cast  into  the  outer  darkness. 
Our  light  must  shine  or  be  shamefully  extin- 
guished. Every  faculty  and  every  gift  we 
possess  must  be  honestly  and  entirely  conse- 
crated to  the  service  of  man,  in  Christ's  name 
and  for  Christ's  sake.^  This  is  the  gospel  for 
the  present  age,  and  for  every  age.  This  is 
Social  re-  the  way  in  which  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  to 
be  established  on  earth.  This  is  the  way  in 
which  the  inequality  of  this  mortal  life  is  to 
be  transfigured  and  irradiated  with  a  divine 
equity.  "  What  we  look  for,  work  for,  pray 
for,  as  believers,  is  a  nation  where  class  shall 
be  bound  to  class  by  the  fullest  participation 
in  the  treasure  of  the  one  life  ;  where  the  mem- 
1  See  Appendix,  note  62. 


generation. 


Service  301 

bers  of  each  group  of  workers  sliall  find  in  their 
work  the  development  of  their  character  and 
the  consecration  of  their  powers  :  Avhere  the 
highest  ambition  of  men  shall  be  to  be  leaders 
of  their  own  class,  so  using  their  special  powers 
without  waste  and  following  the  common  tradi- 
tions to  noble  issues  :  where  each  citizen  shall 
know,  and  be  strengthened  by  the  knowledge, 
that  he  labours  not  for  himself  only,  nor  for 
his  family,  nor  for  his  country,  but  for  GOD."i 


II 

Thus  far  the  teaching  of  Christ  leads  us  with  inequality 

T  -J.'  ii_T  _cj_iTi«      in  the  spirit- 

clear  serenity  m  our  understanding  of  the  dif-  ^^^^  world. 

ferences  among  men  in  the  distribution  of  the 

goods  of  this  present  world.     But  the  deeper 

problem  still  remains  untouched.     There  is  an 

apparent  inequality  in  the  bestowal  of  spiritual 

blessings.     In  the  life  of  the  soul  also,  it  seems 

that  much  is  given  to  one  and  little  to  another. 

Some  men  are  born  very  close  to  the  kingdom 

of  heaven   and   powerfully   drawn   by    unseen 

hands  to  enter  its  happy  precincts.      Other  men 

are  born  far  away  from  the  gates  of  light,  and 

it  looks  to  us  as  if  all  the  influences  of  their  life 

were  hindrances  rather  than  helps  to  holiness. 

1  B.  F.  Westcott,  Bishop  of  Durham,  The  Incarnation 
and  Common  Life  (London,  Macmillau,  1893),  p.  82. 


302 


Service 


The  doctrine 
of  election. 


The  search- 
iny  question. 


False 
unsioers. 


There  is  an  undeniable  contrast  in  the  religious 
world  which  can  only  be  interpreted  as  a  divine 
foreordination,  —  that  is  to  say,  an  act  by  which 
some  men  are  set  before  others,  given  the  pre- 
cedence, offered  an  earlier  and  apparently  an 
easier  opportunity  of  spiritual  life.  If  God  is 
sovereign,  this  act,  by  which  the  means  of  grace 
are  unevenly  dispensed,  must  be  the  result  of  a 
divine  choice. 

The  formal  recognition  of  this  choice  is  the 
doctrine  of  election.  It  is  an  inevitable  doc- 
trine. It  is  founded  u})on  facts  which  admit 
of  no  denial.  And  it  brings  every  thouglitful 
and  earnest  soul  face  to  face  with  the  question 
of  (piestions,  upoji  the  answer  to  which  the 
nature  and  reality  of  religion  depend. 

Is  God  arbitrary,  is  God  partial,  is  God  unjust? 
Does  He  bless  some  of  His  children  and  leave 
the  rest  under  an  irremediable  curse  without  a 
single  reason  which  can  be  exhibited  to  human 
faith  and  justihed  in  perfect  love  ?  In  the  last 
and  highest  realm  of  life,  the  realm  of  the  spirit, 
does  He  make  it  more  blessed  to  receive  than 
to  give,  and  exercise  His  sovereignty  in  favour- 
itism, and  establish  heaven  as  a  kingdom  of 
infinite  and  eternal  and  inexplicable  inequality? 

It  is  an  idle  tiling  to  answer  this  question  by 
an  appeal  to  God's  absolute  right  to  dispose  of 


Service  303 

all  His  creatures  as  He  will.  For  the  very  Anarhi- 
esseiice  of  true  religion  is  the  faith  that  He  is  '"'^ 
such  a  God  that  He  wills  to  dispose  of  all  His 
creatures  wisely  and  fairly  and  in  perfect  love. 
And  the  very  essence  of  a  true  revelation,  as 
the  message  which  calls  religion  into  being,  is 
that  it  makes  God's  wisdom  and  fairness  and 
love  manifest,  and  so  helps  us  to  understand 
and  adore  and  trust  Him,  not  only  for  ourselves 
but  for  the  whole  world. 

It  is  an  idle  thiup"  to  answer  this  question  by  Anirrespon- 

^     -,    •  1  IT-  /     sibleGod. 

say  nig  that  God  is  under  no  obligation  to  be 
good  to  everybody,  and  therefore  that  He  may 
be  good  to  whomsoever  He  pleases.  The  idea 
of  an  irresponsible  God  is  a  moral  mockery. 
Poisonous  doubt  exhales  from  it  as  malaria  from 
a  swamp.  To  teach  that  all  men  are  God's 
debtors,  and  that  therefore  it  is  right  for  Him 
to  remit  the  debt  of  one  man,  and  to  exact  the 
penalty  from  another  to  the  last  farthing,  is  to 
teach  what  is  logically  true  and  morally  false. 
Our  hearts  recoil  from  such  a  doctrine.  If 
God  has  made  us,  and  made  us  spiritual 
paupers,  utterly  incapable  of  anything  good, 
we  are  not  His  debtors.  Jesus  teaches  us  that 
God  asks  of  us  only  to  give  as  freely  as  we  have 
received.  1  He  demands  only  that  which  He 
1  St.  Matt.  X.  8. 


304 


Service 


A  God 
lohose  glory 
is  not 
goodness. 


Election 
perverted  in 
human 

theology. 


Himself  has  made  us  able  to  pay.  And  He 
forgives  like  the  good  master  in  the  parable, 
with  a  free  pardon  which  needs  but  the  con- 
fession of  helplessness  and  poverty  to  call  it 
forth.i 

It  is  an  idle  thing  to  answer  this  question  by 
an  appeal  to  ignorance,  and  to  say  that  God 
elects  some  men  to  be  saved  and  leaves  the  rest 
of  mankind  to  be  lost  simply  for  His  own  un- 
searchable and  inexplicable  glory  !  For  God's 
glory,  as  revealed  by  religion,  is  identical  with 
His  goodness.  Faith,  true  and  joyful  and  up- 
lifting faith,  answers  only  to  a  gospel  which 
makes  that  identity  more  clear  and  luminous, 
and  shows  that  the  divine  election  in  the  realm 
of  grace  is  perfectly  consistent  with  that  wide 
and  deep  love  wherewith  God  so  loved  the 
whole  world  that  He  sent  His  only  begotten 
Son  that  whosoever  belie veth  in  Him  should 
not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life.^ 

Now  it  is  because  men  have  forgotten  this 
that  they  have  found  no  answer,  or  a  false  and 
misleading  answer,  to  the  problem  of  inequality 
in  the  spiritual  world.  It  is  because  they  have 
torn  the  doctrine  of  election  from  its  roots  in 
the  divine  love,  and  petrified  it  with  unholy 
logic,  that  it  has  lost  its  beauty,  its  perfume, 
1  St.  Matt,  xviii.  27.        ^  gee  Appendix,  note  63. 


Service  305 

its   power   of   fruitfulness  to    everlasting   life. 

We  must  go  back  from  the  dead  skeleton  as  it 

is  preserved  in  the  museum  of  theology  to  the 

living  plant  as  it  blossoms  in  the  field  of   the 

Bible.    We  must  go  back  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 

and  back  of  John  Calvin,  and  back  of  Augustine, 

to  St.   Paul,  and  see  how,  under  his  hand,  all 

the   mysterious    facts    of   election    as   they  are 

unfolded  in  human  history,  break  into   flower 

at  last  in  the  splendid  faith  that  "God   hath 

shut  up  all  unto  disobedience  that    He   might 

have   mercy  upon   all."  ^      We    must   go    still 

farther  back,  to  Christ,   and  learn   from    Him 

that  election  is  simply  the  Avay  in  which  God 

uses  His    chosen    ones    to  bless   the    world,  — 

the  divine  process  by  which  the  good  seed  is 

sown   and    scattered    far    and   wide    and    the 

heavenly   harvest   multiplied   a  thousand-fold. 

"  I  elected  you,"  He  says  to  His  disciples  and 

to  us,  "  I  elected  you,  and  appointed  you,  that 

ye  should  go  and  bear  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit 

should  abide. "2 

Christ's    doctrine    of    election    is    a    living,   ChrisVs  doc- 
trine of 
fragrant,    fruitful    doctrine.       It    is    the    most 

beautiful  thing  in  Christianity.     It  is  the  very 

core    and   substance    of   the    gospel,  translated 

1  Romans  xi.  82  ;  see  Appendix,  note  64. 
2  St.  John  XV.  16. 


election  to 
service. 


306 


S 67' vice 


Christ  as 
the  elect 
servant. 


The  disciple 
7nust  be  as 
his  Lord. 


from  the  heart  of  God  into  the  life  of  man.  It 
is  the  divine  haw  of  service  in  spiritual  things. 
It  is  the  supreme  truth  in  the  revelation  of  an 
all-glorious  love  ;  the  truth  that  God  chooses 
men  not  to  be  saved  alone,  but  to  be  saved  by 
saving  others,  and  that  the  greatest  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  he  who  is  most  truly  the 
servant  of  all.^ 

Is  not  this  true  of  Christ  Himself?  He  is 
the  great  example  of  what  it  means  to  be  elect. 
He  is  the  beloved  Son  in  whom  the  Father 
is  well  pleased.  And  He  says  "  Behold,  I  am 
in  the  midst  of  you  as  he  that  serveth."^  Ser- 
vice was  the  joy  and  crown  of  His  life.  Service 
was  the  refreshment  and  the  strength  of  His 
soul,  the  angel's  food,  the  "meat  to  eat"  of 
which  His  disciples  did  not  know.^ 

Was  not  this  the  lesson  that  He  was  always 
teaching  them  by  practice  and  by  precept,  that 
they  must  be  like  Him  if  they  would  belong 
to  Him,  that  they  must  share  His  service  if 
they  would  share  His  election !  "  I  have  ap- 
peared unto  thee  for  this  purpose,"  He  said 
to  Saul,  "  to  make  thee  a  servant  {vTnjpeTrjv,  a 
roiver  in  the  ship)^  and  a  witness  both  of  those 
things  which  thou  hast  seen  and  of  the  things 


1  See  Appendix,  note 


St.  Luke  xxii.  27. 


3  St.  John  iv.  32. 


Service  307 

in  the  which  I  will  appear  unto  thee.''^  The 
vision  of  Christ  is  the  call  to  service.  And  if 
Paul  had  not  been  obedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision  could  Saul  have  made  his  calling  and 
election  sure  ?  But  he  answered  it  with  a  noble 
faith.  "  It  pleased  God  to  reveal  His  son  in 
me  in  order  that  I  might  preach  him  among 
the  nations.'''^  Henceforward,  wherever  he 
might  be,  among  his  friends  in  Cilicia,  in  the 
dungeon  at  Philippi,  on  the  doomed  vessel 
drifting  across  the  storm-tossed  Adriatic,  in 
the  loneliness  of  his  Roman  prison,  this  was 
the  one  object  of  his  life,  to  be  a  faithful  ser- 
vant of  Christ,  and  therefore,  as  Christ  was,  a 
faithful  servant  of  mankind. ^ 

How  can  we  interpret  Christ's  parables,  with-  Parables  oj 

out  this  truth?     The  parables  of  the    Pounds  ^J^J'^^^- 

^  ana  service. 

and  the  Talents  are  both  pictures  of  election 
to  service.  They  both  exhibit  the  sovereignty 
of  God  in  distributing  His  gifts  ;  they  both 
turn  upon  the  idea  of  man's  accountability  for 
receiving  and  using  them ;  and  they  both  declare 
that  the  reward  will  be  proportioned  to  fidel- 
ity in  serving.  The  nature  and  meaning  of 
this  is  explained  by  Christ  in  His  great  descrip- 
tion of  the  judgment,  which  immediately  fol- 
lows the  parable  of  the  Talents  in  St.  INIatthew's 
1  Acts  xxvi.  16.        2  Gal.  i.  16.        s  2  Cor.  iv.  5. 


key-note  of 
the  king 
dom. 


308  Service 

Gospel.^  Many  of  those  who  have  known  Him 
will  be  rejected  at  last  because  they  have  not 
served  their  fellow-men.  Many  of  those  who 
have  not  known  Him  w^ill  be  accepted  because 
they  have  ministered  lovingly,  though  igno- 
rantly,  to  the  wants  and  sorrows  of  the  world. 
Service,  the  Service  is  the  key-note  of  the  heavenly  king- 
dom, and  he  who  will  not  strike  that  note  shall 
have  no  part  in  the  music.  The  King  in  the 
parable  of  the  Wedding  Feast ^  chose  and  called 
his  servants,  not  to  sit  down  at  ease  in  the 
palace,  but  to  go  out  into  the  highways  and 
bid  every  one  that  they  met,  to  come  to  the 
marriage.  And  if  one  of  those  servants  had 
refused  or  betrayed  his  mission,  if  he  had  neg- 
lected his  Master's  business,  and  sat  down  on 
the  steps  of  the  palace  or  walked  pleasantly  in 
the  garden  until  the  supper  was  ready,  do  you 
suppose  that  he  would  have  found  a  place  or  a 
welcome  at  the  feast?  His  soul  would  have 
stood  naked  and  ashamed  without  the  wedding- 
garment  of  love.  For  this  is  the  nature  of 
God's  kingdom,  that  a  selfish  religion  abso- 
lutely unfits  a  man  from  entering  or  enjoying 
it.  Its  gate  is  so  strangely  strait  that  a  man 
cannot  pass  through  it  if  he  desires  and  tries 

1  St.  Matt.  XXV.  31-46. 

2  St.  Matt.  xxii.  1-13. 


Service  309 

to  come  alone ;  but  if  he  will  bring  others  with 
him,  it  is  wide  enough  and  to  spare. 

Who  seeks  for  heaven  alone  to  save  his  soul, 
May  keep  the  path,  but  will  not  reach  the  goal ; 
While  he  who  walks  in  love  may  wander  far, 
Yet  God  will  bring  him  where  the  blessed  are. 

How  wonderfully  all  this  comes  out  in  the  The  prayer 
great  intercessory  prayer  of  Christ  at  the  last  ^^^^  ^^^^^' 
supper.^  That  prayer  is  the  last  and  highest 
utterance  of  the  love  wherewith  Christ,  having 
loved  His  own  which  were  in  the  world,  loved 
them  unto  the  end.  He  prays  for  His  chosen 
ones  :  "  I  pray  for  them  :  I  pray  not  for  the 
world  but  for  those  whom  Thou  hast  given  Me." 
"  Holy  Father,  keep  them  in  Thy  name  -which 
Thou  hast  given  Me,  that  they  may  be  one  even 
as  We  are.  For  their  sakes  I  consecrate  Myself, 
that  they  themselves  also  may  be  consecrated 
in  truth.  Neither  for  these  only  do  I  pray,  but 
for  them  also  that  believe  on  Me  through  their 
word  ;  that  they  may  all  be  one,  even  as  Thou, 
Father,  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  in  Us  ;  that  the  world  may  believe  that 
Thou  didst  send  Me."  How  the  prayer  rises, 
like  some  celestial  music,  through  all  the  inter- 
woven notes  of  different  fellowships,  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  Father  with  the  Son,  the  fellowship 

1  St.  John  xvii. 


Christ's 
ideal. 


310  Service 

of  the  Master  with  the  disciples,  the  fellowship 
of  the  disciples  with  each  other,  until  at  last  it 
strikes  the  grand  chord  of  universal  love.  Not 
for  the  world  Christ  prays,  but  for  the  disciples 
in  the  world,  in  order  that  they  may  pray  for 
the  world,  and  serve  the  world,  and  draw  the 
world  to  faith  in  Him.  And  so,  in  truth,  while 
He  prays  thus  for  His  disciples.  He  does  pray 
for  the  whole  world.  Circle  beyond  circle,  orb 
beyond  orb,  like  waves  upon  water,  like  light 
from  the  sun,  the  prayer,  the  faith,  the  conse- 
crating power  spread  from  that  upper  room 
until  they  embrace  all  mankind  in  the  sweep  of 
the  divine  intercession.  The  special,  personal, 
elective  love  of  Christ  for  His  own  is  not 
exclusive  ;  it  is  magnificently  and  illimitably 
inclusive.  He  loved  His  disciples  into  loving 
their  fellow-men.  He  lifted  them  into  union 
with  God  ;  but  He  did  not  lift  them  out  of 
union  with  the  world  ;  and  every  tie  that 
bound  them  to  humanity,  every  friendship, 
every  fellowship,  every  link  of  human  inter- 
course, was  to  be  a  channel  for  the  grace  of 
God  that  bringeth  salvation,  that  it  might 
appear  to  all  men.^ 

This   is   Christ's  ideal  :    a  radiating  gospel  : 
a  kingdom  of  overflowing,  conquering  love  ;    a 
1  Titus  ii.  11. 


Service  311 

church  that  is  elected  to  be  a  means  of  blessing 
to  the  human  race.^  This  ideal  is  the  very 
nerve  of  Christian  missions,  at  home  and 
abroad,  the  effort  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature,  not  merely  because  the  world  needs 
to  receive  it,  but  because  the  Church  will  be 
rejected  and  lost  unless  she  gives  it.  'Tis  not 
so  much  a  question  for  us  whether  any  of  our 
fellow-men  can  be  saved  without  Christianity. 
The  question  is  whether  we  can  be  saved  if  we 
are  willing  to  keep  our  Christianity  to  our- 
selves. And  the  answer  is.  No  !  The  only 
religion  that  can  really  do  anything  for  me,  is 
the  religion  that  makes  me  want  to  do  some- 
thing for  you.  The  missionary  enterprise  is 
not  the  Church's  afterthought.  It  is  Christ's 
forethought.  It  is  not  secondary  and  optional. 
It  is  primary  and  vital.  Christ  has  put  it  into 
the  very  heart  of  His  gospel.  We  cannot 
really  see  Him,  or  know  Him,  or  love  Him, 
unless  we  see  and  know  and  love  His  ideal  for 
us,  the  ideal  which  is  embodied  in  the  law  of 
election  to  service. 

For   this    reason  the   spirit   of   missions  has  Missions 

,  , ,  .  ,  .  p    .  essential  to 

always   been  the   saving   and  puritymg  power   Qfiristian- 
of  the  Christian  brotherhood.     Whenever  and  Hy- 
wherever  this  ideal  has  shined  clear  and  strong, 
1  See  Appendix,  note  C^6. 


312 


Service 


Missions 
emancipated 
the  early 
church. 


Missions 
keep  the 
gospel  pure. 


it  has  revealed  the  figure  of  the  Christ  more 
simply  and  more  brightly  to  His  disciples,  and 
guided  their  feet  more  closely  in  the  way  of 
peace  and  joy  and  love. 

In  the  first  century  it  was  the  spirit  of  for- 
eign missions  that  saved  the  Church  from  the 
bondage  of  Jewish  formalism.  Paul  and  his 
companions  could  not  live  without  telling  the 
world  that  Christ  Jesus  came  to  seek  and  save 
the  lost — lost  nations  as  well  as  lost  souls. 
The  heat  of  that  desire  burned  up  the  fetters 
of  bigotry  like  ropes  of  straw.  The  gospel 
could  not  be  preached  to  all  men  as  a  form  of 
Judaism.  But  the  gospel  must  be  preached  to 
all  men.  Therefore  it  could  not  be  a  form  of 
Judaism.  The  argument  was  irresistible.  It 
was  the  missionary  spirit  that  made  the  Eman- 
cipation Proclamation  of  Christianity. 

In  the  dark  ages  the  heart  of  religion  was 
kept  beating  by  the  missionary  zeal  and  efforts 
of  such  men  as  St.  Patrick,  and  St.  Augustine, 
and  Columba  and  Aiden,  and  Boniface,  and 
Anskar,  who  brought  the  gospel  to  our  own 
fierce  ancestors  in  the  northern  parts  of  Europe 
and  wild  islands  of  the  sea.  In  the  middle 
ages  it  was  the  men  who  founded  the  great 
missionary  orders,  St.  Erancis  and  St.  Dominic, 
who  did  most  to  revive   the  faith  and  purify 


S 67' vice  313 

the  life  of  the  Church.  And  when  the  Refor- 
mation had  lost  its  first  high  impulse,  and 
sunken  into  the  slough  of  dogmatism ;  when 
the  Protestant  churches  had  become  entangled 
in  political  rivalries  and  theological  controver- 
sies, while  the  hosts  of  philosophic  infidelity 
and  practical  godlessness  were  sweeping  in 
apparent  triumph  OA^er  Europe  and  America, 
it  was  the  spirit  of  foreign  missions  that 
sounded  the  reveille  to  the  Christian  world, 
and  lit  the  signal  fire  of  a  new  era  —  an  era  of 
simpler  creed,  more  militant  hope,  and  broader 
love  —  an  era  of  the  Christianity  of  Christ. 
The  desire  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  every 
creature  has  drawn  the  Church  back  from  her 
bewilderments  and  sophistications  closer  to  the 
simplicity  that  is  in  Christ,  and  so  closer  to  that 
divine  ideal  of  Christian  unity  in  which  all 
believers  shall  be  one  in  Him.  You  cannot 
preach  a  complicated  gospel,  an  abstract  gos- 
pel, to  every  creature.  You  cannot  preach  a 
gospel  that  is  cast  in  an  inflexible  mould  of 
thought,  like  Calvinism,  or  Arminianism,  or 
Lutheranism,  to  every  creature.  It  will  not 
fit.  But  the  gospel,  the  only  gospel  which  is 
divine,  must  be  preached  to  every  creature. 
Therefore,  these  moulds  and  forms  cannot  be  an 
essential  part  of  it.     And  so  we  work  our  way 


314  Service 

back  out  of  the  tangle  of  linman  speculations 
toward  that  pure,  clear,  living  message  which 
Paul  carried  over  from  Asia  to  Europe,  the 
good  news  that  God  is  in  Christ,  reconciling 
the  world  to  Himself. 
One  mes-  This  is  the  gospel  for  an  age  of  doubt,  and 

many  ways  ^^^  ^11  ^ges  wherein  men  sin  and  suffer,  question 
of  preach-  ^j-^j  despair,  thirst  after  righteousness  and  long 
for  heaven.  There  are  a  thousand  ways  of 
preaching  it,  with  lips  and  lives,  in  words  and 
deeds  ;  and  all  of  them  are  good,  provided  only 
the  preacher  sets  his  whole  manhood  earnestly 
and  loyally  to  his  great  task  of  bringing  home 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  to  the  needs  of  his 
brother-men.  The  forms  of  Christian  preach- 
ing are  manifold.  The  spirit  is  one  and  the 
same.  New  illustrations  and  arguments  and 
applications  must  be  found  for  every  age  and 
every  race.  But  the  truth  to  be  illuminated 
and  applied  is  as  changeless  as  Jesus  Christ 
Himself,  in  whose  words  it  is  uttered  and  in 
whose  life  it  is  incarnate,  once  and  forever. 
The  types  of  pulpit  eloquence  are  as  different 
as  the  cliaracters  and  lanoi-uasres  of  men.  But 
all  of  them  are  vain  and  worthless  as  sound- 
ing brass  and  tinkling  cymbals,  unless  they 
speak  directly  and  personally  and  joyfully 
of    that    divine     love    which    is    revealed    in 


Service  315 

Christ  in  order  that  all  who  will  believe  in 
it  may  be  saved  from  doubt  and  sin  and  self- 
ishness in  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  the  lov- 
ing God. 

This  is  the  gospel  which  began  to  shine  The  oni 
through  the  shadows  of  this  earth  at  Bethlehem,  ^^^^^ ' 
where  the  Son  of  God  became  the  child  of  Mary, 
and  was  manifested  in  perfect  splendour  on 
Calvary,  where  the  Good  Shepherd  laid  down 
His  life  for  the  sheep.  For  eighteen  centuries 
this  simple,  personal,  consistent  gospel  has  been 
the  leading  light  of  the  best  desires  and  hopes 
and  efforts  of  humanity.  It  is  the  one  bright 
star  that  shines,  serene  and  steady,  through  the 
confusion  of  our  perplexed,  struggling,  doubting 
age.  He  who  sees  that  star,  sees  God.  He 
who  follows  that  star,  shall  never  perish.  It  has 
dawned  upon  my  heart  so  clearly  and  so  con- 
vincingly that  the  one  thing  I  have  cared  and 
tried  to  do  in  these  lectures  is  to  make  it  plain 
that  this  is  the  essence  of  Christianity,  the  only 
gospel  that  is  worth  preaching  in  all  ways  to 
all  men,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God  who  loves  us 
in  order  that  we  may  learn  to  love  one  another. 
But  if  I  have  failed  to  make  this  view  of  reli- 
gion clear,  if  an  imperfect  utterance  has  be- 
clouded and  obscured  the  message,  at  least  let 
this  last  word  be  plain,  at  least  let  nothing  hide 


The  last 
loord. 


316  S 67' vice 

from  your  soul  or  from  mine,  this  supreme, 
saving  truth  of  election  to  service. 

The  vision  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  greatest 
gift  in  the  world.  It  binds  tliose  who  receive 
it  to  the  highest  and  most  consecrated  life.  To 
behold  that  vision  is  to  be  one  of  God's  elect. 
But  for  our  own  souls  the  result  of  that  election 
depends  upon  the  giving  of  ourselves  to  serve 
the  world  for  Jesus'  sake.  Noblesse  oblige. 
Believers  Let  US  not  miss  the  meaning  of  Christianity 

in  Christ,  .  i        i    . 

the  servants    ^^    ^^    comes   to   US   and    claims   us.      We    are 
of  God's  love  choscu,  we  are  called,  not  to  die  and  be  saved, 

to  the  lohole     -,  ^  ^  i  mi 

loorid.  but  to  live  and  save  others.     The  promise  of 

Christ  is  a  task  and  a  reward.  For  us  there  is 
a  place  in  the  army  of  God,  a  mansion  in  the 
heaven  of  peace,  a  crown  in  the  hall  of  victory. 
But  whether  we  shall  fill  that  place  and  dwell 
in  that  mansion  and  wear  that  crown,  depends 
upon  our  willingness  to  deny  ourselves  and  take 
up  our  cross  and  follow  Jesus.  Whatever  our 
birthright  and  descent,  whatever  our  name 
and  profession,  whatever  our  knowledge  of 
Christian  doctrine  and  our  performance  of 
Christian  worship  may  be,  —  when  the  great 
host  is  gathered  in  the  City  of  God,  with 
tattered  flags  and  banners  glorious  in  their 
bloodstained  folds,  with  armour  dinted  and 
swords  worn  in  the  conflict,  with  Avounds  which 


Service  317 

tell  of  courage  and  patient  endurance  and 
deathless  loyalty,  —  when  the  celestial  knight- 
hood is  assembled  at  the  Round  Table  of  the 
King,  our  name  will  be  unspoken,  our  crown 
will  hang  above  an  empty  chair,  and  our  place 
will  be  given  to  another,  unless  we  accept  now, 
with  sincere  hearts,  the  only  gospel  which  can 
deliver  us  from  the  inertia  of  doubt  and  the 
selfishness  of  sin.  We  must  enter  into  life  by 
giving  ourselves  to  the  living  Christ  who  un- 
veils the  love  of  the  Father  in  a  Human  Life, 
and  calls  us  with  Divine  Authority  to  submit 
our  Liberty  to  God's  Sovereignty  in  blessed 
and  immortal  Service  to  our  fellow-men  for 
Christ's  sake. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 


FORE-WORD 

Note  1. —  ^' Every  living  preacher  must  receive  - 
his  message  in  a  communication  direct  from  God, 
and  the  constant  purpose  of  his  life  must  be  to 
receive   it   uncorrupted,  and  to  deliver  it  without 
addition  or  subtraction. 

"  It  is  a  truism,  but,  I  think  you  will  all  agree, 
a  neglected  truism.  If  in  our  brief  better  moments 
we  see  it,  we  constantly  are  tempted  to  recede  from 
it.  Not  without  some  susi^icion  of  what  may  be 
involved  in  unflinchingly  accepting  it  as  true,  we 
are  apt  to  take  refuge  in  modifications,  compro- 
mises, denials.  Flesh  shrinks,  and  the  heart  cries 
out.  Let  some  one  else  go  up  the  rugged  steep  of 
the  mountain  and  see  Him  face  to  face.  Let  some 
one  else  stand  awestruck  in  the  passing  of  the 
Almighty.  I  will  do  some  humbler  task.  Let  me 
read  the  lessons,  or  let  me  recite  the  creed,  or  let 
me  be  a  priest,  clad  in  the  robes  of  office  which 
are  a  discharge  from  personal  fitness.  On  many 
grounds  and  in  many  ways  we  disclaim  our  calling. 
The  truth  remains  as  a  truism,  but  we  dare  not 
Y  321 


322  Appendix  [Fore-word 

grasp  it   ourselves.      The  world   notices   our  dis- 

claimerj  and  accepts  us  on  the  level  of  our  own 

elected  degradation."  —  Egbert  F.   Horton,  Ver- 
bum  Dei  (Macmillan,  1893),  p.  17. 

Note  2.  —  ^'  So  much  of  the  preaching  to-day 
seems  to  be  preaching  to  yesterday,  or  preaching 
about  yesterday.  It  does  not  touch  as  it  ought 
the  contemporary  life,  and  grapple  with  its  prob- 
lems, its  duties,  its  difficulties,  its  dangers.  There 
is,  in  consequence,  a  sense  of  unreality  about  it,  a 
foreignness,  a  far-away-ness ;  and  to  men  who  are 
of  necessity  preoccupied  with  the  exigencies  of  con- 
temporary life,  it  is  not  helpful  preaching.  .  .  . 
We  should  try  to  make  them  understand  that  there 
is  a  heaven  here  in  this  world,  and  a  hell  here  in 
this  world,  and  that  those  who  at  present  are  living 
in  this  world  are  in  this  heaven  or  in  this  hell. 
And  Jesus  comes  as  light,  we  should  try  to  make 
them  understand,  to  show  them  how  to  get  out  of 
the  hell  which  is  here,  or  the  hell-fire  v/hich  is  here, 
into  the  heaven  which  is  here.  .  .  .  We  should  try 
to  teach  men  and  women  to-day  that  the  way  in 
which  to  use  the  light  of  another  world  shining  in 
Jesus  Christ,  is  not  to  stand  gazing  up  into  heaven 
and  acquiring  thus  a  kind  of  spiritual  myopia,  or 
shortsightedness,  which  prevents  them  from  seeing 
clearly  the  forms  of  duty  immediately  about  them, 
but  to  walk  on  the  earth  in  the  light  of  that  other 
world  which  in  Jesus  Christ  so  brightly  and  beauti- 
fully appears."  —  David  H.  Greer,  The  Preacher 
and  His  Place  (Scribners,  1895),  pp.  46,  47. 


Lecture  I]  Appe7ldix  323 

'^Pere  Gratry  says,  'It  is  not  enough  to  utter 
the  mysteries  of  the  Spirit,  the  great  mysteries  of 
Christianity,  in  formulas,  true  before  God,  but  not 
understood  of  the  people.  The  apostle  and  the 
X^rophet  are  precisely  those  who  have  the  gift  of 
interpreting  these  obscure  and  profound  formulas 
for  each  man  and  each  age.  To  translate  into  the 
common  tongue  the  mysterious  and  sacred  language 
...  to  speak  the  word  of  God  afresh  in  each  age, 
in  accordance  with  both  the  novelty  of  the  age  and 
the  eternal  antiquity  of  the  truth,  this  is  what  St. 
Paul  means  by  interpreting  the  unknown  tongue. 
But  to  do  this,  the  first  condition  is  that  a  man 
should  appreciate  the  times  he  lives  in.  "Hoc 
autem  tempus  quare  non  probatis.'' '  "  —  Lux  Mundi 
(John  Murray,  London,  1890),  p.  viii. 


LECTUEE   I 

Note  3.  Page  5.  —  "Je  ne  crois  pas  ^noncer 
une  verite  bien  neuve  en  affirmant  que  la  Littera- 
ture  est  un  de  ces  elements,  le  plus  important 
peut-etre,  car  dans  la  diminution  de  plus  en  plus 
evidente  des  influences  traditionnelles  et  locales, 
le  Livre  devient  le  grand  initiateur.  II  n'est 
aucun  de  nous  qui,  descendu  au  fond  de  sa  con- 
science, ne  reconnaisse  qu'il  n'aurait  pas  ete  tout 
a  fait  le  meme  s'il  n'avait  pas  lu  tel  ou  tel  ouvrage; 
poeme  ou  roman,  morceau  d'histoire  ou  de  j^hiloso- 
phie.  A  cette  minute  precise,  et  tandis  que  j'ecris 
cette  ligne,  un  adolescent,  que  je  vols,  s'est  accoude 


324  Appendix  [Lecture  1 

sur  son  pupitre  cl'etndiant  par  ce  beau  soir  d'un 
jour  de  juin.  Les  fleurs  s'oiivrent  sous  la  fenetre, 
amoureusement.  L'or  tendre  du  soleil  couche 
s'etend  sur  la  ligne  de  Thorizon  avec  une  deli- 
catesse  adorable.  Des  jeunes  lilies  causent  dans 
le  jardin  voisin.  L'adolescent  est  penche  sur  son 
livre,  peut-etre  un  de  ceux  dont  il  est  parle  dans 
ces  Essais.  C'est  les  Fleurs  du  Mai  de  Baudelaire, 
c'est  la  Vie  de  Jesus  de  M.  Renan,  c'est  la  Sa- 
lammbo  de  Flaubert,  c'est  le  Thomas  Graindorge  de 
M.  Taine,  c'est  le  Eouge  et  le  Noir  de  Beyle.  .  .  . 
Qu'il  ferait  mieux  de  vivre!  disent  les  sages.  .  .  . 
Helas!  c'est  qu'il  vit  a  cette  minute,  et  d'une  vie 
plus  intense  que  s'il  cueillait  les  fleurs  parfumees, 
que  s'il  regardait  le  melancolique  Occident,  que 
s'il  serrait  les  fragiles  doigts  d'une  des  jeunes 
filles.  II  passe  tout  entier  dans  les  phrases  de  son 
auteur  prefere.  II  converse  avec  lui  de  coeur  a 
coeur,  d'homme  a  homme.  II  I'ecoute  prononcer 
sur  la  maniere  de  gouter  I'amour  et  de  pratiquer  la 
debauche,  de  chercher  le  bonheur  et  de  supporter 
le  nialheur,  d'envisager  la  mort  et  I'au  dela  tene- 
breux  du  tombeau,  des  paroles  qui  sont  des  revela- 
tions. Ces  paroles  I'introduisent  dans  un  univers 
de  sentiments  jusqu'alors  aperQu  a  peine.  De  cette 
premiere  revelation  a  imiter  ces  sentiments,  la  dis- 
tance est  faible  et  l'adolescent  ne  tarde  guere  a  la 
franchir.  Un  grand  observateur  a  dit  que  beaucoup 
d'hommes  n'auraient  jamais  ete  amoureux  s'ils 
n'avaient  entendu  parler  de  I'amour."  —  Paul 
BouRGET,  Essais  de  Psychologie  Contemporaine 
(Paris,  1895),  p.  vi. 


Lecture  I]  Appendix  325 

"  It  may  be  alleged  that  the  popular  opinion  is 
merely  a  reflection  of  the  popular  literature,  and 
that  the  truth  of  the  assumption  I  am  calling  in 
question  is  generally  believed  by  the  many  who 
read,  simply  because  it  is  constantly  asserted  by 
the  few  who  write.  This  no  doubt  is  accurate,  and 
up  to  a  certain  point  is  an  explanation.  There 
exists  now  a  kind  of  literature,  already  large  and 
of  growing  importance,  produced  by  experts  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  desire  to  be  'generally  in- 
formed ' ;  which,  unlike  most  ephemeral  literature, 
leads  public  opinion  rather  than  follows  it.  Of 
course  the  greater  part  of  this,  whether  it  consists 
of  handbooks  or  of  review  articles,  lias  no  bearing 
whatever  on  the  relation  which  ought  to  exist  be- 
tween Eeligion  and  Science,  or  Avith  the  positive 
evidence  that  may  exist  for  either.  But  just  as 
popular  accounts  of  chemistry,  physiology,  or  his- 
tory appear  in  answer  to  the  natural  desire  of  an 
educated  but  busy  public  for  as  much  knowledge 
as  possible,  about  as  many  things  as  possible,  with 
as  little  trouble  as  possible;  so  there  are  easily 
found  eminent  authors  anxious  to  purvey  for  that 
apparently  increasing  class  of  persons  who  aspire 
to  be  advanced  thinkers,  but  who  like  to  have  their 
advanced  thinking  done  for  them." — A.  J.  Bal- 
four, A  Defence  of  Philosophic  Doubt  (Macmillan, 
1879),  p.  308. 

Note  4.  Page  7.  —  "With  sorrow  and  reluctance 
it  must  be  confessed  that  the  majorit}'  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  undergraduates  are  without,  or  at 


326  Appendix  [Lecture! 

least  profess  to  be  without^  any  religious  beliefs 
at  all.  There  are,  of  course,  many  exceptions. 
Exceptions,  however,  they  remain  ;  certainly  the 
greater  number  are  Gallios  so  far  as  the  church 
is  concerned."  —  Article  in  The  Nineteenth  Century, 
October,  1895,  in  "The  Religion  of  the  Under- 
graduate." Things  are  not  quite  so  bad  in  the 
United  States,  but  in  France  and  Germany  they 
are  worse. 

Note  5.  Page  11.  —  Among  these  books,  which 
take  a  distinctly  spiritual  and  religious  view  of 
evolution,  some  of  the  most  interesting  have  been 
written  in  America.  The  Idea  of  God,  and  The 
Destiny  of  Man,  by  John  Fiske ;  Agnosticism  and 
Religion,  by  President  Schurman  of  Cornell  Uni- 
versity; The  Evolution  of  Christianity,  by  Dr. 
Lyman  Abbott;  and  Moral  Evolution,  by  Prof. 
George  Harris  of  Andover,  may  be  named  as 
works  of  great  value  to  the  student  who  w^ishes 
to  understand  the  deeper  tendencies  of  modern 
thought.  One  of  the  first  of  undoubtedly  orthodox 
theologians  to  assert  that  the  theory  of  evolution 
is  not  hostile  to  religion,  was  President  James 
McCosh  of  Princeton.  The  general  course  of  the 
argument  as  it  is  developing  in  the  light  of  science 
to-day,  may  be  seen  in  the  following  extracts  from 
the  writings  of  Dr.  John  Fiske. 

"The  Darwinian  theory,  properly  understood, 
replaces  as  much  teleology  as  it  destroys.  From 
the  first  dawning  of  life  we  see  all  things  work- 
ing together  toward  one  mighty  goal,   the  evolu- 


Lecture  I]  Appendix.  327 

tion  of  the  most  exalted  spiritual  qualities  which 
characterize  Humanity.  The  body  is  cast  aside 
and  returns  to  the  dust  of  which  it  was  made. 
The  earth,  so  marvellously  wrought  to  man's 
uses,  will  also  be  cast  aside.  The  day  is  to 
come,  no  doubt,  when  the  heavens  shall  vanish 
as  a  scroll,  and  the  elements  be  melted  with  fer- 
vent heat.  So  small  is  the  value  which  Nature 
sets  upon  the  perishable  forms  of  matter!  The 
question,  then,  is  reduced  to  this:  Are  Man's 
highest  spiritual  qualities,  into  the  production  of 
which  all  this  creative  energy  has  gone,  to  dis- 
appear with  the  rest?  Has  all  this  work  been 
done  for  nothing?  Is  it  all  ephemeral,  all  a  bub- 
ble that  bursts,  a  vision  that  fades?  Are  we  to 
regard  the  Creator's  work  as  like  that  of  a  child, 
who  builds  houses  out  of  blocks,  just  for  the  pleas- 
ure of  knocking  them  down?  For  aught  that 
science  can  tell  us,  it  may  be  so,  but  I  can  see  no 
good  reason  for  believing  any  such  thing.  On 
such  a  view  the  riddle  of  the  universe  becomes  a 
riddle  without  a  meaning.  Why,  then,  are  we 
any  more  called  upon  to  throw  away  our  belief  in 
the  permanence  of  the  spiritual  element  in  Man 
than  we  are  called  upon  to  throw  away  our  belief 
in  the  constancy  of  Nature?  The  more  thoroughly 
we  comprehend  that  process  of  evolution  by  which 
things  have  come  to  be  what  they  are,  the  more  we 
are  likely  to  feel  that  to  deny  the  everlasting  per- 
sistence of  the  spiritual  element  in  Man  is  to  rob 
the  whole  process  of  its  meaning.  It  goes  far 
toward  putting  us  to  permanent  intellectual  con- 


328  Appendix  [Lecture  I 

fusion,  and  I  do  not  see  that  any  one  has  yet 
alleged,  or  is  likely  to  allege,  a  sufficient  reason 
for  our  accepting  so  dire  an  alternative." — John 
FisKE,  The  Destiny  of  Man  (Houghton,  Mifflin, 
&  Co.,  1895),  pp.  113-116. 

"As  to  the  conception  of  Deit}^,  in  the  shape 
impressed  upon  it  by  our  modern  knowledge,  I 
believe  I  have  now  said  enough  to  show  that  it 
is  no  empty  formula  or  metaphysical  abstraction 
which  we -would  seek  to  substitute  for  the  living 
God.  The  infinite  and  eternal  Power  that  is  mani- 
fested in  every  pulsation  of  the  universe  is  none 
other  than  the  living  God.  We  may  exhaust  the 
resources  of  metaphysics  in  debating  how  far  his 
nature  may  fitly  be  expressed  in  terms  applicable 
to  the  physical  nature  of  Man ;  such  vain  attempts 
will  only  serve  to  show  how  we  are  dealing  with  a 
theme  that  must  ever  transcend  our  finite  powers 
of  conception.  But  of  some  things  we  may  feel 
sure.  Humanity  is  not  a  mere  local  incident  in 
an  endless  and  aimless  series  of  cosmical  changes. 
The  events  of  the  universe  are  not  the  work  of 
chance,  neither  are  they  the  outcome  of  blind 
necessity.  Practically  there  is  a  purpose  in  the 
world  whereof  it  is  our  highest  duty  to  learn  the 
lesson,  however  well  or  ill  we  may  fare  in  render- 
ing a  scientific  account  of  it.  When  from  the 
dawn  of  life  we  see  all  things  working  together 
toward  the  evolution  of  the  highest  spiritual  at- 
tributes of  Man,  we  know,  however  the  words  may 
stumble  in  which  we  try  to  say  it,  that  God  is  in 


Lecture  I]  Appendix  329 

tlie  deepest  sense  a  moral  Being.  The  everlasting 
source  of  phenomena  is  none  other  than  the  in- 
finite Power  that  makes  for  righteousness.  Thou 
canst  not  by  searching  find  Him  out;  yet  put  thy 
trust  in  Him,  and  against  thee  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail;  for  there  is  neither  wisdom  nor 
understanding  nor  counsel  against  the  Eternal." 
— ■  John  Fiske,  The  Idea  of  God  (Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Co.,  1886),  pp.  166,  167. 

"  So,  as  we  look  back  over  the  marvellous  life- 
history  of  our  planet,  even  from  the  time  when  there 
was  no  life  more  exalted  than  that  of  conferva  scum 
on  the  surface  of  a  pool,  through  ages  innumerable 
until  the  present  time,  when  man  is  beginning  to 
learn  how  to  decipher  nature's  secrets, —  we  look 
back  over  an  infinitely  slow  series  of  minute  adjust- 
ments, gradually  and  laboriously  increasing  the 
points  of  contact  between  the  inner  life  and  the 
world  environing  it.  Step  by  step  in  the  upward 
advance  toward  humanity  the  environment  has 
enlarged,  from  the  world  of  the  fresh-water  alga, 
with  its  tiny  field  and  its  brief  term  of  existence, 
to  the  world  of  civilized  men,  which  comprehends 
the  stellar  universe  during  aeons  of  time.  Every 
such  enlargement  has  had  reference  to  actual  exist- 
ences outside.  The  eye  w^as  developed  in  response 
to  the  outward  existence  of  radiant  light,  the  ear 
in  response  to  the  outward  existence  of  acoustic 
vibrations.  The  mother's  love  came  in  response 
to  the  infant's  needs.  Fidelity  and  honour  were 
gradually    developed    as    the    nascent    social    life 


330  Appendix   .  [Lecture  I 

required  them.  Everywhere  the  internal  adjust- 
ment has  been  brought  about  so  as  to  harmonize 
with  some  actually  existing  external  fact.  Such 
has  been  nature's  method:  such  is  the  deepest  law 
of  all  life  that  science  has  been  able  to  detect. 

"Now  there  was  a  critical  moment  in  the  history 
of  our  planet,  when  love  was  beginning  to  play  a 
part  hitherto  unknoAvn,  when  the  notions  of  right 
and  wrong  were  germinating  in  the  nascent  human 
soul,  when  the  family  was  coming  into  existence, 
when  social  ties  were  beginning  to  be  knit,  when 
winged  words  first  took  their  flight  through  the 
air.  Tliis  is  the  mo7nent  when  the  process  of  evo- 
lution ivas  being  shifted  to  a  higher  plane,  when 
civilization  was  to  be  superadded  to  organic  evolu- 
tion, when  the  last  and  highest  of  creatures  was 
coming  upon  the  scene,  when  the  dramatic  purpose 
of  creation  was  approaching  fulfilment.  At  that 
critical  moment  we  see  the  nascent  human  soul 
vaguely  reaching  forth  toward  something  akin  to 
itself,  not  in  the  realm  of  fleeting  phenomena, 
but  m  the  eternal  presence  beyond.  An  internal 
adjustment  of  ideas  was  achieved  in  correspond- 
ence with  an  unseen  world.  That  the  ideas  were 
very  crude  and  childlike,  that  they  were  put 
together  with  all  manner  of  grotesqueness,  is  what 
might  be  expected.  The  cardinal  fact  is  that  the 
crude,  childlike  mind  was  groping  to  put  itself 
into  relation  with  an  ethical  world  not  visible  to 
the  senses.  And  one  aspect  of  this  fact  not  to  be 
lightly  passed  over  is  the  fact  that  religion,  thus 
set  upon  the  scene  coeval  ivith  the  birth  of  human- 


Lecture  I]  Appendix  331 

%,  has  played  such  a  dominant  part  in  the  subse- 
quent evolution  of  human  society  that  tvhat  history 
would  he  tvithout  it  is  quite  beyond  our  imagina- 
tion. As  to  the  dimensions  of  this  cardinal  fact, 
there  can  thus  be  no  question.  None  can  deny 
that  it  is  the  largest  and  most  ubiquitous  fact  con- 
nected with  the  existence  of  mankind  upon  the  earth. 

"Now,  if  the  relation  thus  established,  in  the 
morning  twilight  of  man's  career,  between  the 
human  soul  and  the  world  invisible  and  immaterial, 
is  a  relation  of  which  only  the  subjective  term  is 
real  and  the  objective  term  is  non-existent,  then  I 
say  it  is  something  utterly  without  i^recedent  in 
the  whole  history  of  creation.  All  the  analogies 
of  evolution,  so  far  as  men  have  been  able  to 
decipher  it,  are  overwhelmingly  against  any  such 
supposition.  All  the  analogies  of  nature  fairly 
shout  against  the  assumption  of  such  a  breach  of 
continuity  between  the  evolution  of  man  and  all 
previous  evolution.  So  far  as  our  knowledge  of 
nature  goes,  the  whole  momentum  of  it  carries  us 
forward  to  the  conclusion  that  the  unseen  world,  as 
the  objective  term  in  a  relation  that  has  coexisted 
with  the  whole  career  of  mankind,  has  a  real  exist- 
ence; and  it  is  but  following  out  the  analogy  to 
regard  that  unseen  world  as  the  theatre  where  the 
ethical  process  is  destined  to  reach  its  full  consum- 
mation. 

"  TJie  lesson  of  evolution  is  that  through  all  these 
lueary  ages  the  human  soid  has  not  been  cherishing 
in  religion  a  delusive  phantom;  but,  in  spite  of 
seemingly    endless    groping    and    stumbling,    it  has 


332  Appendix  [Lecture  I 

been  rising  to  the  recognition  of  its  essential  kin- 
ship ivith  the  everliving  God.  Of  all  the  implica- 
tions of  the  doctrine  of  evolution  with  regard  to  mayi, 
I  believe  the  very  deepest  and  strongest  to  be  that 
ivhich  asserts  the  everlasting  reality  of  religion.^''  — 
Christian  Literature.  February,  1896.  "  The  Ever- 
lasting Reality  of  Religion."     p.  428. 

Note  6.  Page  17. — "It  has  been  said  that  fic- 
tion is  harmful  not  so  much  by  what  is  put  in  it 
as  by  what  is  left  out.  A  few  grains  of  wit,  a 
leaven  of  literary  skill,  and  a  little  of  fancy  go  far 
to  neutralize  the  septic  properties  of  romance. 
The  most  harmful  of  all  are  —  at  least  for  young 
and  unlearned  people  —  the  class  usually  styled 
'harmless,'  because  the  Seventh  Commandment  is 
never  mentioned  in  them.  These,  tossed  aside  by 
mature  readers,  are  read  by  the  young  in  default 
of  better:  these  ruin  mind  and  weaken  imagina- 
tion, give  false  and  sickly  views  of  life,  degrade 
taste,  and  enervate  both  character  and  feeling."  — 
Article  by  "  Maxwell  Grey  "  in  The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury.    January,  1896.     "The  Influence  of  Fiction." 

Note  7.  Page  24.  —  "  At  first  sight  it  might  seem 
that  these  two  kinds  of  pessimism,  the  popular  and 
instinctive,  and  the  philosophic  and  reasoned,  have 
nothing  to  do  with  one  another,  and  that  no  light 
can  be  thrown  on  the  latter  by  the  earlier  develop- 
ment. It  is,  no  doubt,  true  that  modern  German 
pessimism  as  a  philosophy  of  existence  must  be 
examined  and  estimated  on  its  own  grounds,  and 


Lecture  I]  Appendix  333 

be  accepted  or  rejected  according  as  it  shows  itself 
to  be  or  not  to  be  a  consistent  and  well-reasoned 
system  of  thought.  At  the  same  time,  the  full 
significance  of  this  speculative  doctrine  cannot  be 
understood  except  by  a  reference  to  pre-philosophic 
pessimism.  Systems  of  philosophy  do  not  spring 
from  pure  isolated  intellect,  but  are  the  products 
of  concrete  minds  made  up  in  part  of  certain  emo- 
tional and  moral  peculiarities  which  mould  and 
colour  in  numberless  particulars  their  intellectual 
workmanship.  It  is  at  least  a  priori  supposable 
that  the  j)hilosophic  pessimists  partake  somewhat 
of  those  habits  of  feeling  and  thought  which  under- 
lie the  more  popular  type  of  pessimism."  —  James 
Sully,  Pessimism  (Appleton,  1891),  pp.  2,  3. 

Note  8.  Page  28.  —  "II  y  a  d'abord  dans  Baude- 
laire nne  conception  particuliere  de  Pamour.  On 
la  caracteriserait  assez  exactement,  semble-t-il,  par 
trois  epithetes,  d'ordre  disparate  comme  notre  soci- 
ete.  Baudelaire  est  tout  a  la  fois,  dans  ses  vers 
d'amour :  mystique,  libertin,  et  analyseur.  ...  II 
est  libertin,  et  des  visions  depravees  jusqu'au 
sadisme  troublent  ce  meme  homme  qui  vient 
d'adorer  le  doigt  leve  de  sa  Madone.  Les  niornes 
ivresses  de  la  Venus  vulgaire,  les  capiteuses  ardeurs 
de  la  Venus  noire,  les  raffinees  delices  de  la  Venus 
savante,  les  criminelles  audaces  de  la  Venus  san- 
guinaire,  ont  laisse  de  leur  ressouvenir  dans  les 
plus  spiritualises  de  ses  poemes.  ...  A  travers 
taut  d'egarements,  oil  la  soif  d'une  infinie  purete 
se  melange  a  la  faim  devorante  des  joies  les  plus 


334  Appendix  [Lecture  I 

pimentees  de  la  chair,  I'intelligence  de  I'analyseur 
reste  cruellement  maitresse  d'elle-meme.  La  mys- 
ticite,  comme  le  libertinage,  se  codifie  en  formules 
dans  ce  cerveau  qui  decompose  ses  sensations,  avec 
la  precision  d'un  prisme  decomposant  la  lumiere. 
Le  raisonnement  n'est  jamais  entame  par  la  fievre 
qui  bride  le  sang  ou  par  I'extase  qui  evoque  les 
chimeres.  Trois  liommes  a  la  fois  vivent  dans 
cet  homme,  unissant  leurs  sensations  pour  mieux 
presser  le  coeur  et  en  exprimer  jusqu'a  la  derniere 
goutte  la  seve  rouge  et  cliaude.  Ces  trois  liommes 
sont  bien  modernes,  et  plus  moderne  aussi  est  leur 
reunion.  La  fin  d'une  foi  religieuse,  la  vie  a  Paris, 
et  I'esprit  scientifique  du  temps  out  contribue  a 
faQonner,  puis  a  fondre  ces  trois  sortes  de  sensi- 
bilites,  jadis  separees  jusqu'a  paraitre  irreducti- 
bles  I'une  a  I'autre,  et  maintenant  liees  jusqu'a 
paraitre  inseparables,  an  moins  dans  cette  creature, 
sans  analogue  avant  le  XIX^  siecle  franqais,  qui 
fut  Baudelaire."  —  Bourget,  PsycJiologie  Contem- 
porai7ie,  pp.  5,  6,  8. 

Note  9.  Page  29.  —  '^  So  liat  Sudermann  vor 
wenigen  Woclien  auf  dem  litterarisclien  Congress 
in  Dresden  unumwunden  auf  Ibsen,  Tolstoi  und 
Zola  als  die  eigentlicben  Lehrmeister  seiner  Gen- 
eration liingewiesen.  Welcher  Meinung,  liber  die 
Walil  dieser  Muster  man  audi  sein  mag,  gewiss  ist 
dass  diese  strengen  und  liberstrengen  Eichter  ilirer 
Mitmensclien  iliren  deutsclien  Jlingern  niclit  zu 
geben  vermochten,  was  ihnen  selbst  fehlte :  innere 
Harmonic.     Ganz  im  Geiste  ilirer  Vorbilder  gingeii 


Lecture  I]  Appendix  335 

unsere  Neuerer  mit  grausamer  Freude  den  Scliaden 
und  Schwachen  miserer  kranken  Welt  nach.  Uii- 
bekiimmert  um  die  welthistorischen  Yorgange  im 
Zeitalter  Bismarcks,  fernab  von  jedem  Yersiich 
oder  Verdacht  einer  byzantinischen  Litteratur 
waren  und  blieben  sie  das  bose  Gewissen  ihrer 
Landsleute.  Bald  gab  es  kein  verborgenes  oder 
offenes  Laster  der  herrschenden  Klassen,  kein 
kleines  oder  grosses  Leid  unserer  Arbeiter  und 
Bauern,  das  uns  nicht  auf  den  Biilinen  und  in  den 
Bilcliern  deutscher  Naturalisten  beimgesucht  hatte. 
Drama  und  Eoman  spielten  sicli  auf  das  Wunder- 
werkzeug  binaus,  von  dem  ein  feiner  Humorist 
getraumt  und  gescherzt  hat :  das  Mish^ophoyi.  Wie 
der  Apseolonius  in  Otto  Ludwigs  '  Zwischen  Him- 
mel  und  Erde'  batten  unsere  Neusten  den  Katzen- 
jammer  von  den  Eauschen,  die  sicb  Andere  antran- 
ken." — Antox  Bettelheim,  CosmopoUs,  January, 
1896,  pp.  272,  273. 

Note  10.  Page  34.  —  '^  Karl  Peters  is  undoubt- 
edly right,  when  he  says  of  the  systems  both  of 
Frauenstadt  and  of  Hartmann,  that  they  represent 
the  transition  to  Theism  without  knowing  it.  '  I 
maintain  that  the  Philosophy  of  the  Unconscious 
represents  the  transition  from  Pantheism  to  Theism. 
...  As  in  Schopenhauer  we  have  the  transition 
from  an  idealistic  to  a  realistic,  so  in  Hartmann 
there  is  executed  the  transition  from  a  pantheistic 
to  a  theistic  Weltanschauung.  The  former,  indeed, 
believed  himself  to  stand  on  quite  the  other  side, 
and  no   doubt   the   latter  also   thinks   that   he   is 


336  Appendix  [Lecture  IJ 

planted  on  the  opposite  bank.  But  as  Schopen- 
hauer coukl  not  prevent  the  historical  development 
from  growing  beyond  his  standpoint,  so  Hartmann 
will  seek  in  vain  to  guard  himself  against  such  a 
breaking  up  of  his  system.  .  .  .  Ed.  v.  Hartmann's 
Unconscious  is  an  almighty  and  all-wise  Providence, 
raised  above  the  world-process,  which  comprehends 
and  holds  within  itself  the  whole  world-develop- 
ment.'" —  James  Orr,  D.D.,  The  Christian  View 
of  God  and  the  World  (New  York,  1893),  p.  457. 

LECTUEE   II 

Note  11.  Page  46.  —  "  Gradually  one  phenome- 
non after  another  of  those  discovered  and  attested 
by  De  Puysegur,  Esdaile,  Elliotson,  etc.,  has  been 
admitted  into  orthodox  science  under  some  slightly 
altered  name.  Certain  phenomena,  rarer  and  more 
difficult  to  examine,  but  attested  by  the  same  men 
with  equal  care,  are  still  left  in  the  outer  court  of 
the  scientific  temple.  But  when  one  has  seen  the 
somnambulic  state,  the  insensibility  under  opera- 
tions, etc.,  which  were  once  scouted  as  fraudulent 
nonsense,  becoming  the  commonplaces  of  the  lect- 
ure-room, one  can  await  with  equanimity  the  gen- 
eral acceptance  of  the  thought-transference  and 
the  clairvoyance  which,  from  De  Puysegur 's  day 
onwards,  have  repeatedly  occurred  in  the  course  of 
those  same  experiments  —  experiments  which  some- 
times ruined  the  careers  of  those  who  made  them, 
but  which  are  now  recognized  as  epoch-making  in 
a  great  department  of  experimental  psychology." 


Lecture  IIJ  Appendix  337 

"  The  time  for  a  priori  chains  of  argument,  for 
the  subjective  pronouncements  of  leading  minds, 
for  amateurish  talk  and  pious  opinion,  has  passed 
away;  the  question  of  the  survival  of  man  is  a 
branch  of  Experimental  Psychology.  Is  there,  or  is 
there  not,  evidence  in  the  actual  observed  phenom- 
ena of  automatism,  apparitions,  and  the  like,  for 
a  transcendental  energy  in  living  men,  or  for  an 
influence  emanating  from  personalities  which  have 
over-passed  the  tomb?  This  is  the  definite  ques- 
tion which  we  can  at  least  intelligibly  discuss,  and 
which  either  we  or  our  descendants  may  some  day 
hope  to  answer."  —  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  Science  and 
a  Future  Life  (Macmillan,  1893),  pp.  34,  44. 

Note  12.  Page  47.  —  "N'ow  it  is  surely  not 
unreasonable  to  surmise  that  there  are  limitations 
in  the  nature  of  the  universe  which  must  circum- 
scribe the  achievements  of  speculative  research. 
Every  astronomer  knows  that  there  was  only  one 
secret  of  the  universe  to  be  discovered,  and  that 
when  Newton  told  it  to  the  world  the  supreme 
triumph  of  astronomy  was  achieved.  AVhether 
Darwin  or  some  one  else  shall  have  disclosed  the 
other  great  mystery  of  the  generation  of  life,  it  is 
none  the  less  certain  that  all  future  triumphs  will 
be  insignificant  by  the  side  of  the  first  luminous 
hypothesis.  Chemistry  rests,  Avhen  all  abatements 
have  been  made,  on  the  atomic  theory,  and  even  if 
future  investigation  enables  us  to  forecast  with 
absolute  precision  what  the  result  of  combinations 
hitherto  unattempted  will  be,  so  that  we  can  calcu- 


338  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

late  in  tlie  study  what  is  now  worked  out  grop- 
ingly in  the  laboratory,  that  discovery  would 
hardly  eclipse  the  merit  of  Dalton^s  contribution 
to  science.  So  it  is  in  every  department  of 
research.  Even  the  greatest  men  are  little  more 
than  sagacious  interpreters  of  thought  and  toil 
which  others  have  expended  obscurely.  The  dis- 
covery of  a  new  metal,  a  new  star,  or  a  new  species 
is  now  nothing  to  thrill  us  with  wonder  and  awe. 
We  know  that  it  has  been  worked  up  to  by  former 
experiments  or  is  the  result  of  improved  instru- 
ments, and  is  no  more  matter  of  wonder  than  that 
this  year's  best  steamship  should  make  a  knot  an 
hour  more  than  was  possible  five  years  ago.  Then 
again,  not  only  is  science  ceasing  to  be  a  prophet, 
but  in  virtue  of  her  very  triumphs,  precisely  be- 
cause her  thoughts  are  passing  into  the  life-blood 
of  the  world,  is  she  losing  visible  influence  as  a 
liberal  educator.  It  is  coming  to  be  matter  of 
history  that  she  has  taught  us  to  substitute  law 
for  caprice  in  our  conceptions  of  the  Divine  will; 
that  she  has  relegated  the  belief  in  secondary 
causes  and  the  belief  in  arbitrary  interpositions  of 
the  First  Cause  to  the  lumber-room  of  fable ;  that 
she  has  given  us  a  broader  and  intenser  view  of 
nature,  while  she  has  left  us  the  fairyland  of  the 
world's  childhood  for  an  appreciable  treasure. 
Other  harvests  have  now  been  gathered  in.  The 
prophet  and  leader  is  rapidly  becoming  a  hand- 
maid. Her  possibilities  can  be  pretty  accurately 
summed  up  or  forecast  in  a  cyclopaedia;  and  having 
delivered  herself  of  her  one  imperishable  protest 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  339 

against  popular  theology,  she  has  no  other  great 
moral  truth  to  declare."  —  Charles  H.  Pearson, 
National  Life  and  Character  (Macmillan,  1893), 
p.  291. 

"But  in  truth  if  (as  is  commonly  assumed)  our 
discoveries  are  confined  to  the  physical  side  of 
things,  there  is  no  ground  whatever  for  this  san- 
guine liope.  Admitting  that  the  visible  universe 
is,  in  relation  to  our  present  faculties,  practically 
infinite,  it  by  no  means  follows  that  our  means  of 
scrutinizing  it  are  capable  of  indefinite  improve- 
ment. And,  in  fact,  we  find  the  true  pioneers 
of  science  greatly  more  cautious  in  their  prog- 
nostic. We  begin  to  hear  that  telescopy  and 
microscopy  (which  in  their  brief  existence  have 
suggested  so  many  more  problems  than  they  have 
solved)  are  already  approaching  ominously  near  to 
their  theoretic  limit.  We  begin  to  recognize  in 
the  length  of  the  light-wave  an  irreducible  bar  to 
that  scrutiny  of  the  'infinitely  little'  which  we 
most  urgently  need.  We  begin  to  feel  that  the 
sensitiveness  of  the  retina,  the  percipient  power 
of  the  brain,  however  supplemented  by  sensitive 
apparatus,  must  always  be  inadequate  to  the  more 
delicate  tasks  which  we  would  fain  assign  to  them ; 
and  in  short  that  the  human  body,  developed  for 
quite  other  purposes,  must  always  be  a  rude  and 
clumsy  instrument  for  the  apprehension  of  abstract 
truth.  And  more  than  this.  Vast  as  is  the  visible 
universe,  infinite  as  may  have  been  the  intelligence 
which  went  to  its  evolution,  yet  while  viewed  in 


340  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

the  external  way  in  which  alone  we  can  view  it, 
—  while  seen  as  a  product  and  not  as  a  plan, —  it 
cannot  possibly  suggest  to  us  an  indefinite  number 
of  universal  laws.  Such  cosmic  generalizations  as 
gravitation,  evolution,  correlation  of  forces,  con- 
servation of  energy,  though  assuredly  as  yet  unex- 
hausted, cannot  in  the  nature  of  things  be  even 
approximately  inexhaustible.''  —  Science  and  a 
Future  Life,  p.  72. 

Note  13.  Page  48.  —  "Here  terminated  the  first 
part  of  our  inquiry.  Its  general  result  is  to  show 
(1)  that  from  the  particular  knowledge  obtained 
by  observing  the  phenomena  of  a  world  assumed 
throughout  this  part  of  the  essay  to  be  persistent, 
no  scientific  conclusions  could  be  drawn;  and  (2) 
that  even  if  we  suppose  these  phenomena  to  be 
part  of  a  world  governed  by  causation,  we  were  not 
much  advanced,  and  that,  therefore,  (3)  some 
further  principles  or  modes  of  inference  have  need 
to  be  discovered  before  Science  is  placed  on  a 
rational  foundation.  Of  these  'further  principles, ' 
since  their  nature  is  altogether  unknown,  no  more 
notice  has  been  taken. 

"  Assuming  then  that  the  arguments  attacked  are 
fairly  representative  of  English  Philosophy  at  the 
present  time  —  as  is,  I  think,  the  case  —  and  assum- 
ing, as  I  am  bound  to  do,  that  the  answers  here 
given  to  those  arguments  are  effective,  we  may  say 
that  Science  is  a  system  of  belief  which,  for  any- 
thing we  can  allege  to  the  contrary,  is  wholly 
without  proof.     The  inferences  by  which  it  is  ar- 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  341 

rived  at  are  erroneous;  the  premises  on  which  it 
rests  are  unproved.  It  only  remains  to  show  that, 
considered  as  a  general  system  of  belief,  it  is  inco- 
herent: and  this  task  is  undertaken  in  the  two 
chapters  which  together  form  the  Third  Part. 

"The  first  of  these  (namely,  Chapter  XII.)  is 
devoted  in  the  main  to  showing  that  there  is  a 
discrepancy  between  the  facts  which  Science  asserts 
to  be  its  (particular)  premises  and  the  facts  which 
it  puts  forward  as  its  ultimate  conclusions.  But 
besides  this  principal  contention,  it  is  shown  inci-  ' 
dentally  that  the  universe,  as  it  is  represented  to 
us  by  Science,  is  wholly  unimaginable,  and  that 
our  conception  of  it  is  what  in  Theology  would  be  I 
termed  purely  anthropomorphic.  * 

"The  chief  argument  of  Chapter  XII.  is,  how- 
ever, only  indirectly  connected  with  this  subject, 
its  principal  end  being  to  contrast  the  world  as  it 
appears  with  the  world  as  Science  assures  us  that  it 
is,  and  to  show  that  the  scientific  reasoning  which 
makes  our  knowledge  of  the  second  depend  logically 
upon  our  knowledge  of  the  first,  is  inadmissible. 

"The  fact  that  the  two  are  in  contradiction,  is 
flagrant  and  undeniable — ^as  any  one  may  see  who 
considers  that  while  perception  gives  us  immediate 
knowledge  of  the  existence  of  coloured  objects. 
Science  tells  us  that  this  appearance  is  really  due 
either  to  the  vibration  of  uncoloured  particles,  or 
to  reflection  from  uncoloured  surfaces.  It  is  also, 
I  imagine,  evident  that  no  integral  part  of  a  sys- 
tem can  contradict  the  premises  of  that  system 
without    introducino;    confusion    and    incoherence 


342  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

into  the  whole;  and  finally,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  since  our  actual  scientific  system  does  rest 
upon  the  data  given  in  perception,  and  since  its 
conclusions  are  in  contradiction  with  these  data,  it 
must  be  regarded  as  incoherent  and  confused."  — 
Arthur  James  Balfour,  A  Defence  of  Philo- 
sopliic  Doubt  (Macmillan,  1879),  pp.  284,  285, 
287-289. 

Note  14.  Page  52. —  "With  the  growth  of 
knowledge  Theology  has  enlarged  its  borders  until 
it  has  included  subjects  about  which  even  the  most 
accomplished  theologian  of  past  ages  did  not 
greatly  concern  himself.  To  the  Patristic,  Dog- 
matic, and  Controversial  learning  which  has 
always  been  required,  the  theologian  of  to-day 
must  add  knowledge  at  first  hand  of  the  complex 
historical,  antiquarian,  and  critical  problems  pre- 
sented by  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  of 
the  vast  and  daily  increasing  literature  which  has 
grown  up  around  them.  He  must  have  a  sufficient 
acquaintance  with  the  comparative  history  of  reli- 
gions ;  and,  in  addition  to  all  this,  he  must  be  com- 
petent to  deal  with  those  scientific  and  philosophical 
questions  which  have  a  more  profound  and  perma- 
nent bearing  on  Theology  even  than  the  results 
of  critical  and  historical  scholarship."  —  Arthur 
James  Balfour,  The  Foundations  of  Belief  (Long- 
mans, 1895),   p.  1.  * 

"What  manner  of  man  must  he  be,  who  is  to 
give    epoch-making   expression    to    the   new   con- 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  343 

sciousness  of  Christ,  it  is  not  difficult  to  imagine. 
He  must  know  the  method  of  physical  science,  and 
be  in  sympathy  with  its  great  generalizations;  he 
must  be  at  home  in  the  kingdom  of  thought, 
familiar  with  tlie  noble  and  fruitful  ideas  in  phi- 
losophy, a  companion  of  the  imperial  thinkers  of 
the  race;  he  must  have  at  his  tongue's  end  the 
salient  facts  of  Christian  history,  and  the  funda- 
mental conceptions  and  distinctions  of  historic 
theology;  he  must  be  a  master  of  the  new  biblical 
learning,  widely  and  deeply  versed  in  the  classical 
literatures  of  the  world,  and  able  to  work  in  the 
consciousness  of  the  true  interpretation  of  the  re- 
ligions of  the  world;  and,  in  addition  to  all  this, 
he  must  have  original  power.  For  this  apparatus 
of  learning  is  but  the  introduction  to  such  work  as 
to-day  needs  to  be  done."  —  George  A.  Gordon, 
The  Christ  of  To-day  (Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co., 
1896),  pp.  31,  32. 

Note  15.  Page  55.  —  "All  human  language^  all 
human  observation,  implies  that  the  mind,  the  'I,' 
is  a  thing  in  itself,  a  fixed  point  in  the  midst  of 
a  world  of  change,  of  which  world  of  change  its 
own  organs  form  a  part.  It  is  the  same  yesterday, 
to-day,  and  to-morrow.  It  was  what  it  is  when  its 
organs  were  of  a  different  shape,  and  consisted  of 
different  matter  from  their  present  shape  and  mat- 
ter. It  will  be  what  it  is  when  they  have  gone 
through  other  changes.  I  do  not  say  that  this 
proves,  but  surely  it  suggests,  it  renders  probable, 
the  belief  that  this   ultimate   fact,   this   starting- 


344  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

point  of  all  knowledge,  thought,  feeling,  and  lan- 
guage, this  'final  inexplicability  ^  (an  empliatic, 
though  a  clumsy  phrase),  is  independent  of  its 
organs ;  that  it  may  have  existed  before  they  were 
collected  out  of  the  elements,  and  may  continue  to 
exist  after  they  are  dissolved  into  the  elements. 
The  belief  thus  suggested  by  the  most  intimate, 
the  most  abiding,  the  most  wide-spread  of  all 
experiences,  not  to  say  by  universal  experience, 
as  recorded  by  nearly  every  word  of  every  lan- 
guage in  the  world,  is  what  I  mean  by  a  belief  in 
a  future  state,  if  indeed  it  should  not  rather  be 
called  a  past,  present,  and  future  state,  all  in  one, 
a  state  which  rises  above  and  transcends  time  and 
change.  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  proved,  but  I  do 
say  that  it  is  strongly  suggested  by  the  one  item 
of  knowledge  which  rises  above  logic,  argument, 
language,  sensation,  and  even  direct  thought,  that 
one  clear  instance  of  direct  consciousness  in  virtue 
of  which  we  say  'I  am.'  This  belief  is  that  there 
is  in  man,  or  rather  that  man  is  that  which  rises 
above  words  and  above  thoughts,  which  are  but 
unuttered  words ;  that  to  each  one  of  us,  'I'  is 
the  ultimate  central  fact  which  renders  thought 
and  language  possible."  —  Sir  James  Fitzjames 
Stephen,  Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity.  Quoted  by 
Hutton,  Contemporary  Thought  and  Thinkers,  I., 
p.  114. 

Note  16.  Page  56. — ^"Now  personality  is  the 
inevitable  and  necessary  starting-point  of  all 
human  thought.     For  we  cannot  by  any  conceiv- 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  345 

able  means  get  out  of  it,  or  behind  it,  or  beyond 
it,  or  account  for  it,  or  imagine  the  method  of 
its  derivation  from  anything  else.  For,  strictly 
speaking,  we  have  no  knowledge  of  anything  else 
from  which  it  can  have  been  derived.  If  we  are 
told  that  it  is  the  product  of  pure  reason,  or  uncon- 
scious will,  or  mere  matter,  or  blind  force,  the 
answer  is  obvious  —  that  we  know  of  no  such 
things.  For,  when  spoken  of  in  this  way,  reason 
and  will  and  matter  and  force  are  only  abstrac- 
tions, and  abstractions  from  my  personal  experi- 
ence; that  is  to  say,  they  are  parts  of  myself, 
separated  from  their  context  and  then  supposed  to 
exist  in  the  other  world;  or,  to  put  the  same  thing 
in  another  way,  they  are  phenomena  of  the  outer 
world,  which  are  supposed  to  resemble  parts  of 
myself  taken  out  of  their  context.  But  it  is  only 
in  their  context  that  these  parts  of  me  have  any 
real  existence.  Will,  in  the  only  form  in  which 
I  know  it,  is  determined  by  reason  and  desire. 
Matter,  in  the  only  form  in  which  I  know  it,  — 
that  is,  in  my  own  body,  —  is  informed  by  reason 
and  desire  and  will.  Eeason,  as  I  know  it,  is 
inseparable  from  desire  and  will.  And  when  in 
my  own  case  I  speak  of  my  'reason'  or  my  'will' 
apart,  I  am  making  abstraction  of  a  particular 
aspect  of  myself,  which,  as  such,  has  only  an 
ideal  or  imaginary  existence.  Consequently,  names 
which  are  given  to  phenomena  in  virtue  of  their 
resembling  or  being  supposed  to  resemble  these 
abstract  aspects  of  myself,  must  be  equally  ideal 
and  imaginary  in  their  denotation.     And  I  cannot 


346  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

in  any  way  conceive  a  living  and  complex  whole, 
like  myself,  to  be  derived  from  anything  outside 
me  which  can  only  be  known  and  named  because  it 
resembles  one  of  my  elements;  when  the  element 
in  question  must  be  artificially  isolated  and,  so  to 
speak,  killed  in  the  process,  before  the  resemblance 
can  be  established.  Abstractions  must  be  less  real 
than  the  totality  from  which  they  are  taken,  and 
cannot  thus  be  made  levers  for  displacing  their 
own  fulcrum.  Personality,  therefore,  is  ultimate 
'a  parte  ante.'"  —  J.  R.  Illingworth,  Person- 
ality Human  and  Divine  (Macmillan,  1894),  pp. 
41-43. 

"The  comparative  failure  of  metaphysical  think- 
ers in  the  past  has  been  due  simply  and  entirely,  I 
take  it,  to  their  having  adopted  false  starting-points 
and  worked  with  false  methods.  Metaphysics,  like 
charity,  should  begin  at  home.  Though  it  must  be 
metempirical  in  the  sense  of  being  concerned  with 
what  is  not  'reducible  to  sensation,'  it  need  not, 
and  should  not,  be  metempirical  in  the  wider  sense 
of  the  term  experience,  which  embraces  the  whole 
of  consciousness.  The  true  beginning  of  meta- 
physics is  personality,  or  the  existence  of  an  ego. 
Here  we  may  find  an  immovable  foundation.  If  it 
can  be  shown  that  feeling  could  not  exist  without 
an  ego,  then  it  is  absurd  to  maintain,  as  the  Posi- 
tivists  do  maintain,  that  the  ego  cannot  exist 
because  it  is  not  a  feeling.   .   .   . 

"The  denial  of  Personality  is  the  denial  of 
knowledge.      Without   a   metaphysical    ego    there 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  347 

could  be  neither  memory  nor  sensation.  The 
attempt  to  disprove  the  existence  of  such  an  ego 
is  only  rendered  apparently  successful  by  that 
existence  being  throughout  assumed.  Its  very 
negation  is  tantamount  to  its  affirmation;  for 
without  this  principle  of  permanence  the  concepts 
employed  in  its  denial  could  not  possibly  have 
been  formed.  In  other  words,  the  personality, 
which  should  be  the  beginning  of  metaphysics, 
is  essential  to  the  conception  and  statement  of 
every  anti-uietaphysical  argument."  —  Alfred 
Williams  Momekie,  Personah'tj/,  the  Beginning 
and  End  of  Metaphysics  and  a  Necessary  Assump- 
tion in  all  Positive  Philosophy  (Blackwood,  1889), 
pp.  23,  132. 

Note  17.  Page  58.^ — "Christianity  is  histori- 
cal in  its  antecedents.  It  is  the  fulhlment  of 
Judaism,  which  was  in  its  very  idea  definitely 
prospective,  and  only  really  intelligible  through 
the  end  to  which  it  led.  The  Covenant  with 
Abraham  included  the  promise  of  which  the  later 
religious  history  of  'the  people,^  working  through- 
out for  and  in  'the  nations,'  was  the  gradual 
accomplishment.  The  c^ll  of  Abraham  was  the 
beginning  of  the  universal  life  of  Faith.  For  as 
Christianity  was  the  goal  of  the  revelations  of  the 
Old  Testament,  so  it  was  also  the  answer  to  the 
questions  of  the  whole  prae-Christian  world, 
the  satisfaction  of  the  aspirations  of  the  'many 
nations '  with  whom  in  the  order  of  Providence 
the  'people'  was  brought  into  contact. 


348  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

"Christianity  is  historical  in  itself.  It  is  not  a 
code  of  laws;  it  is  not  a  structure  of  institutions; 
it  is  not  a  system  of  opinions.  It  is  a  life  in 
fellowship  with  a  living  Lord.  The  Work  and 
the  Person  of  Christ,  this  is  the  Gospel,  both  as 
it  was  proclaimed  by  the  Lord  Himself,  and  as  it 
was  proclaimed  by  His  Apostles:  the  revelation, 
the  gift,  the  power,  of  a  perfect  human  life  offered 
to  God  and  received  by  God,  in  and  with  which 
every  single  human  life  finds  its  accomplishment. 
The  laws,  the  institutions,  the  opinions,  of  Chris- 
tendom are  the  expression  of  the  life  which  works 
through  them.  In  Christianity  the  thoughts  by 
which  other  religions  live  are  seen  as  facts. 

"Christianity  is  also  historical  in  its  realization. 
All  human  experience  must  be  a  commentary  on 
the  perfect  human  Life.  The  new  life  which  was 
communicated  to  men  requires  for  its  complete 
embodiment  the  services  of  all  men.  The  fuller 
meaning  of  the  Faith  in  Him  Who  is  the  Way  and 
the  Truth  and  the  Life  is  slowly  mastered  through 
the  ages  by  the  ministry  of  nations  and  by  the 
ministry  of  saints  and  heroes  through  which  the 
thoughts  of  the  nations  are  interpreted.  Such  a 
process  must  go  on  unhastingiy,  unrestingly,  irre- 
versibly to  the  end  of  time;  and  if  anything  can 
make  us  feel  the  nobility  of  life,  it  must  be  that 
in  Christ  we  are  enabled  to  recognize  in  the  whole 
course  of  history  a  majestic  spectacle  of  the  action 
of  Divine  love  in  which  no  failures  and  no  wil- 
fulness of  men  can  obliterate  the  signs  and  the 
promise  of  a  Presence  of  God." — Bkooke  Foss 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  349 

Westcott,  Bishop  of  Durham,  The  Gospel  of  Life 
(Macmillan,  1892),  pp.  255-257. 

Note  18.  Page  59.  — "Thus  far  our  task  is 
accomplished;  however  briefly  and  hastily,  the 
outer  conditions  of  the  life  of  Christ  have  been 
spread  before  us.  But  it  would  be  an  unpardon- 
able omission,  if  even  here  special  attention  were 
not  invited  to  the  fact  that  these  are  utterly  irrec- 
oncilable with  the  vaunted  mythical  theory.  The 
ablest  expositor  of  this  theory,  while  admitting  a 
certain  basis  of  historical  truth  in  the  Christian 
Gospels,  denies  altogether  their  authenticity  as 
histories,  and  maintains  that  the  life  which  they 
delineate,  like  the  ancient  mythologies  of  Greece 
and  Eome,  is  fabulous  rather  than  historical. 
What  seem  to  be  facts  he  pronounces  myths,  shad- 
owing forth  certain  spiritual  truths,  and  these  he 
labours  to  show  were  the  very  truths  most  firmly 
believed  by  the  nation  in  connection  with  the 
expected  Messiah.  His  avowed  purpose  is  to 
prove  that  by  the  aid  of  their  imagination  the 
writers  of  the  Gospels  wrought  up  the  scanty 
materials  which  they  possessed  into  a  series  of 
fables,  each  containing  a  spiritual  meaning,  and 
that  meaning  always  in  harmony  with  their  tradi- 
tionary ideas,  and  even  suggested  by  them. 

"With  the  utmost  confidence  we  can  defy  con- 
tradiction when  we  assert  that  these  principles  are 
incapable  of  being  applied  to  that  series  of  facts 
which  has  formed  the  subject  of  the  short  review 
we  have  just  finished.     With  whatever  plausibility 


350  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

they  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon  other  parts  of 
the  evangelical  narrative,  it  will  baffle  the  most 
dexterous  criticism  to  adjust  them  to  this  portion 
of  it:  < The  corrupt  and  debasing  influences  amid 
which  Jesus  grew  up  in  the  village  of  Nazareth ; ' 
the  shortness  of  His  earthly  course,  and  its 
'  ignominious  close; '  —  '  His  poverty.  His  humble 
trade  as  a  carpenter,  and  His  want  of  education 
and  of  worldly  x^atronage,' — these  are  the  things 
which  we  have  put  forward  as  the  outer  conditions 
of  Christ's  life.  These  were  not  only  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  Messianic  ideas  of  the  Jews  at  that 
time,  or  indeed  at  any  time,  but  they  were  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  them.  We  make  bold  to 
maintain  that  they  Avere  the  very  last  things 
which  a  Jew  would  ever  have  dreamed  of  connect- 
ing with  the  life  of  his  Messiah.  They  are  not 
Messianic;  the  most  unscrupulous  ingenuity  can 
never  construe  them  into  myths,  or  make  them 
harmonize  with  national  and  traditionary  fancies. 
Whatever  be  fable,  these  are  certainly  facts,  and 
would  have  been  eagerly  concealed,  if  they  had  not 
been  received  and  undeniable  facts;  and  these  facts 
are  all  that  are  now  demanded,  as  the  basis  on 
which  to  found  an  argument  for  the  true  divinity 
of  Christ. 

"  Jesus  was  a  resident  in  the  village  of  Nazareth 
till  He  was  thirty  years  of  age.  He  died  in  com- 
parative youth,  when  He  was  only  thirty-three 
years  old.  He  was  a  working  carpenter;  poor, 
unknown,  untaught,  inexperienced,  and  unbe- 
friended.     We  shall  go  to   some   obscure  hamlet 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  351 

of  our  land,  known  chiefly  for  the  extreme  prof- 
ligacy of  its  inhabitants;  we  shall  go  to  the 
workshop  of  a  carpenter  there,  to  a  young  man  at 
the  bench,  earning  his  bread  by  the  labour  of  his 
hands,  remarkable  only  because,  amid  the  sur- 
rounding vice,  he  has  preserved  himself  uncon- 
taminated;  we  shall  go  to  this  youthful  artisan, 
not  yet  thirty  years  of  age,  born  of  humble 
parents,  brought  up  in  a  condition  of  poverty, 
associating  only  with  the  poor,  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  the  rich,  the  learned,  the  influential, 
or  receiving  assistance,  or  even  countenance  from 
them;  we  shall  go  to  this  poor  young  man,  who 
has  had  no  intercourse  with  cultivated  society,  no 
access  to  books,  no  time  for  reading  and  study,  no 
education  but  the  commonest,  and  no  outward 
advantages  of  any  kind  above  others  in  his  humble 
station,  from  his  birth  till  that  time.  Such,  in 
simple  historical  truth,  such  exactly  was  Jesus  of 
Nazareth;  and  these  were  the  very  conditions  un- 
der which  He  developed  His  future  character,  aiul 
rose  to  His  future  position."  —  Jotin  Young,  The 
Christ  of  History  (Robert  Carter  &  Bros.,  1855). 
pp.  52-54. 

Note  19.  Page  62.  —  "The  argument  to  the 
Divinity  of  Christ  from  his  claim,  has  been  re- 
cently put  afresh,  as  part  of  a  personal  experi- 
ence, in  An  Appeal  to  Unitarians,  by  'A  Convert 
from  Unitarianism  '  (Longmans,  1890),  pp.  41-51. 
'  If  it  is  not  superhuman  authority  that  speaks  to 
us  here,   it  is  surely  superhuman  arrogance.'     It 


352  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

has,  however,  been  chiefly  brought  home  to  men's 
minds,  in  recent  times,  by  Pere  Lacordaire  {Jesus 
Clirist,  Conf.  1)  and  Dr.  Liddon."  —  Chaeles 
GoKE,  The  Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God  (Scrib- 
ners,  1891),   p.  266. 

Note  20.  Page  65.  — "The  Church  is  a  unit 
under  the  lordship  of  Christ.  This  thought  is 
most  fully  developed  in  First  Corinthians,  where 
the  apostle  sets  it  in  contrast  with  the  party-spirit 
which  prevailed  at  Corinth,  and  in  Ephesians, 
where  it  is  introduced  as  a  corollary  of  the 
supreme  headship  of  Christ  over  the  Church. 
The  unity  and  harmony  of  all  Christians  in  the 
Church  are  illustrated  by  various  figures.  One  of 
the  most  common  is  that  of  the  members  as  consti- 
tuting one  body:  'We,  who  are  many,  are  one 
body  in  Christ,  and  severally  members  one  of 
another '  (Rom.  xii.  5) ;  '  For  as  the  body  is 
one,  and  hath  many  members,  and  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  body,  being  many,  are  one  body;  so 
also  is  Christ'  (1  Cor.  xii.  12);  that  is,  'just  as 
the  case  stands  with  the  body,  that  its  many  mem- 
bers make  up  its  unity,  so  also  does  it  stand  in 
like  manner  with  Christ,  whose  many  members 
likewise  constitute  the  unity  of  His  body '  (Meyer 
in  loco).  In  Ephesians  the  headship  of  Christ 
over  the  Church  as  His  body  is  yet  more  explicitly 
asserted  in  contrast  to  modes  of  thought  which 
degraded  Christ  from  His  pre-eminent  position, 
and  which  had  become  rife  in  the  churches  in  Asia 
Minor,   although  the  apostle  does   not  here   draw 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  358 

out  the  practical  lessons  regarding  tlie  function  of 
each  member  of  the  body  which  are  so  fully  devel- 
oped in  1  Cor.  xii.  12-31.  Here  it  is  a  doctri- 
nal interest  regarding  the  nature  and  dignity  of 
Christ's  person,  while  there  it  was  a  practical  con- 
cern for  the  harmony  and  peace  of  the  Corinthian 
Church,  which  determined  the  course  of  His 
thought.  It  is  the  divine  purpose  'to  sum  up 
all  things  in  Christ ' ;  that  is,  to  unite  all  things 
under  one  head,  in  union  with  Christ  (Eph.  i,  10). 
Christ  is  the  unifying  bond  of  all  saving  powers 
and  processes.  God  'hath  put  all  things  under 
His  feet,  and  gave  Him  to  be  head  over  all  things 
to  the  Church,  which  is  His  body'  (i.  22).  It 
results  from  Christ's  position  and  work  that  man- 
kind, who  were  before  divided  into  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  are  now  united  into  one  body  by  the 
reconciliation  which  Christ  lias  accomplished  by 
His  death  (ii.  16).  It  follows  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Christian  man  to  fulfil  the  function  of  a 
member  of  Christ,  and  so  to  promote  the  strong 
and  healthy  growth  of  the  body  (iv.  16;  Col.  ii. 
19),  or,  disregarding  the  figure,  to  grow  in  like- 
ness to  Christ,  to  approach  ever  nearer  to  the 
standard  of  His  perfectness  (Eph.  iv.  13,  15).'' 
—  GeorcxE  B.  Stevens,  The  Pauline  Theology 
(Scribners,  1892),  pp.  321-323. 

Note  21.  Page  74.  —  "In  character,  in  spirit- 
ual insight,  in  knowledge  of  man,  and  of  what  all 
men  feel  must  be  the  truth  of  God;  in  ability  to 
see  into  the  very  heart  of  'human  life's  mystery  ' 


354  Appendix  [Lecture  II 

and  to  penetrate  the  depth  of  humanity's  need; 
in  ability  to  speak  the  word  which  His  own  age 
needed  and  all  ages  since  have  needed,  this  Gali- 
lean peasant,  whose  youth  and  young  manhood 
were  hlled  with  monotonous  toil ;  who  had  never 
travelled;  who  knew  few  if  any  books;  who  had 
no  teacher  but  a  sweet  and  gracious  mother,  —  has 
surpassed  all  the  ideal  heroes.  In  a  public  min- 
istry of  only  a  few  months  He  transcended  the 
wisdom  of  tlie  philosophers,  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  forces  of  the  universities,  and,  more  than 
any  other,  led  men  —  all  men,  men  of  the  most 
diverse  tastes  and  prejudices  —  toward  God.  It 
is  impossible  for  me  to  think  that  nature,  even 
as  glorious  as  that  in  which  His  youth  was  spent, 
taught  Him  all  these  lessons.  No  great  poet  or 
artist  ever  came  from  the  midst  of  such  scener^^. 
If  He  is  explained  by  natural  environment,  the 
question  remains,  AVhy  has  nature  produced  no 
successor  to  Jesus?  Switzerland  and  Thibet  have 
contributed  no  names  to  the  list  of  the  world's 
intellectual  and  spiritual  leaders,  or  even  to  that 
of  her  great  artists  and  poets.  Natural  environ- 
ment influences  the  body,  not  much  the  intellectual 
and  spiritual  environment.  But  around  this  Man 
the  Oriental  and  the  Occidental  alike  gather,  and 
each  seems  to  find  in  Him  a  brother,  a  teacher,  and 
a  friend. 

"  There  have  been  many  attempts  to  explain  the 
character  and  personality  of  Jesus.  My  object  is 
not  to  add  another  to  that  list,  but  rather  to  show 
that  the  data  do  not  exist  which  warrant  any  one 


Lecture  II]  Appendix  355 

in  attempting  to  classify  Him  with  other  men  as  a 
product  of  heredity  and  environment.  He  seems, 
indeed,  to  have  been  without  father  and  without 
mother.  Whoever  He  was,  and  whatever  the 
explanation  of  His  presence  on  this  earth  of  ours, 
He  was  an  exception  among  men;  not  in  such  a 
sense  as  to  break  the  continuity  of  liumanit3%  but 
clearly  to  make  it  impossible  to  account  for  Him 
as  we  account  for  heroes  and  men  of  genius."  — 
Amohy  H.  Bradford,  Heredity  and  Christian  Prob- 
lems (Macmillan,  1895),  p.  266. 

Note  22.  Page  75.  —  "But  there  is  another 
form  of  satisfaction  which  He  has  rendered  which 
is  even  deeper  and  more  intense  than  this.  Jesus 
Christ  has  satisfied  humanity  in  the  relief  which 
He  has  brought  to  it  under  the  consciousness  of 
sin.  There  is  really  no  experience  which  can 
compare  in  intensity  with  the  experience  of  sin. 
The  reality  of  sin  is  not  to  be  confused  Avith  the 
experience  of  it.  The  reality  is  universal,  the 
experience  is  unequal.  Some  know  what  sin  is 
by  its  bitter  fruits  in  their  own  souls  and  bodies, 
or  in  the  souls  and  bodies  of  those  yet  dearer  to 
them  than  their  own;  others  know  what  sin  is 
only  in  principle,  through  the  selfishness  which 
has  some  lodgment  in  every  heart.  Now,  as  the 
experience  of  sin  is  unequal,  so  the  satisfaction 
which  Christ  brings  to  sinning  men  is  unequal. 
And  no  one  may  argue  from  any  knowledge  which 
he  may  have  of  sin,  short  of  the  experience  of  it, 
how  great  that  satisfaction   is   which  Christ  can 


356  Appendix  [Lecture  IIJ 

render.  For  he  who  would  satisfy  liumanity 
under  the  consciousness  of  sin  must  be  able  to 
meet  it  in  its  lowest  conditions  and  in  its  extreme 
possibilities.  But  the  fact  which  bears  its  con- 
stant witness  to  the  power  of  Christ  is,  that  when 
the  lowest  conditions  are  reached,  and  the  most 
extreme  possibilities  are  realized,  then  the  satis- 
faction is  most  complete.  The  saying  of  Paul 
is  verified  a  thousand  times  with  every  day. 
'Where  sin  abounded  grace  did  abound  more 
exceedingly.' 

"  It  is  not  to  our  present  purpose  to  say  how  this 
result  is  brought  about.  If  it  were,  it  might  not 
be  possible.  No  theory  is  as  wide  as  the  fact.  No 
philosophy  of  the  atonement  can  altogether  explain 
the  process  by  which  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  finds 
its  sure  result  in  purity  and  inward  peace  in  the 
heart  of  a  penitent  and  believing  sinner.  All  that 
we  can  do  is  to  watch  the  phenomena  which  attend 
the  method  of  Jesus.  We  know  that  His  approach 
to  sin  is  through  His  own  sinlessness.  We  can 
see  that  His  purity  wins  its  way  where  anything 
short  of  that  would  falter  and  fail.  We  know 
something  of  the  power  of  His  passion  for  sinners, 
—  how  irresistible  at  times  it  is,  working  against 
the  love  of  sin  by  'the  expulsive  power  of  a  new 
affection. '  And  we  know  that  the  method  of  Jesus 
is  always  sacrificial,  in  its  deepest  sense  vicariously 
sacrificial,  life  for  life,  the  cross  the  standard  and 
the  measure  of  the  satisfaction  which  He  imparts 
to  a  sinner.  So  much  of  the  process  we  can  see  — 
and  then  the  result."  —  The  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ, 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  357 

by  the   authors  of  Progressive  Orthodoxy  (Hough- 
ton, Mifflin  &  Co.,   1893),  pp.  215-217. 

LECTURE   III 

Note  23.  Page  87.  —  "  The  life  of  the  religion, 
then,  lies  in  the  person  of  its  founder;  all  that  it 
has  clone  for  the  race  is  but  a  form  of  His  action 
within  and  through  it.  He  has  given  actuality  to 
its  theistic  beliefs,  has  been  the  motive,  impulse, 
and  law  to  all  its  beneficences.  The  sense  or 
consciousness  of  His  abiding  presence  constitutes 
His  Church;  the  emotions  He  awakens  determine 
all  its  worship  and  all  its  desires.  Even  where 
this  seems  most  concealed,  it  is  yet  present  as  the 
veritable  seat  and  principle  of  life.  The  Virgin 
may  seem  to  hold  the  first  place  in  what  may  be 
called  the  more  vulgar  Roman  worship;  but  she 
does  it  not  as  woman,  but  as  mother;  she  stands 
there  not  in  her  own  right,  but  by  virtue  of  her 
Son.  The  opposite  fault  has  been  committed  in 
many  an  evangelical  sermon;  the  Son  has  been  so 
preached  as  to  hide  the  Father,  or  to  deny  Him  by 
absorbing  those  ethical  qualities  which  are  most 
distinctively  Divine.  But  here,  too,  the  Son 
could  not  be  without  the  Father,  or  the  Father 
without  the  Son;  both  were  needed  to  the  being 
of  either;  and  so  the  emphasis  on  one  was  only  a 
crude  way  of  expressing  their  unity.  The  his- 
torical fact  then  remains  —  the  person  of  Christ 
has  given  reality  to  the  life  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, and  actuality  both  to  its  belief  in  God  and 


358  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

to  the  God  it  has  believed  in." — A.  M.  Fairbairx, 
The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  p.  381. 

Note  24.  Page  90.  —  "The  Christian  religion  is 
one  phenomenon,  a  totality,  a  whole,  of  which  the 
New  Testament  is  only  a  part.  We  of  to-day  are 
in  actual  contact  with  a  living  Christianity,  which 
has  persisted  through  nineteen  centuries  of  human 
chance  and  change;  and  though  hindered,  now  as 
ever,  by  schism,  treachery,  hate,  flattery,  contempt, 
presents  the  same  essential  features  which  it  pre- 
sented nineteen  centuries  ago;  miracles  of  peni- 
tence, miracles  of  purity,  miracles  of  spiritual 
power;  weakness  strengthened,  fierceness  chast- 
ened, passion  calmed,  and  pride  subdued;  plain 
men  and  philosophers,  cottagers  and  courtiers, 
living  a  new  life  through  the  faith  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  God.  .  .  .  Now  to  construct  out  of  the 
Gospels  an  imaginary  portrait,  of  One  who  neither 
worked  wonders  nor  claimed  to  be  Divine,  is  to 
invalidate  their  worth,  for  it  is  to  tear  them  liter- 
ally into  shreds.  The  conception  of  Christ,  as 
superhuman,  is  too  completely  incorporate  in  their 
substance,  too  subtly  inwoven  into  their  tissues, 
too  intimately  present  in  their  every  line,  to  be 
removed  by  any  process  short  of  their  destruction 
as  a  whole.  Moreover,  if  there  were  an  unknown 
Christ  behind  the  New  Testament,  a  Christ  whom 
its  writers  unanimously  misrepresented  or  mis- 
understood, it  Avould  not  be  on  this  unknown 
Person,  but  on  His  misrepresentation  that  Chris- 
tianity is  built.     For  the  absolutely  central  doc- 


Lecture  III]  Ajjpendix  359 

trine  round  which  Christianity  has  always  moved, 
and  which  has  been  the  secret  of  its  unique  hokl 
upon  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men,  is  not 
simply  the  loving  Fatherhood  of  God,  but  the 
proof  that  He  has  given  of  His  loving  Fatherhood, 
by  sending  His  only-begotten  Son  into  the  world. 
Faith  in  the  Incarnation,  with  all  that  it  involved, 
has  been  the  sole  and  exclusive  source  of  our  his- 
toric Christianity.  Yet  if  Christ  were  merely 
man,  this  was  precisely  the  one  point  on  which 
either  He  or  His  reporters  were  profoundly  wrong. 
The  case  therefore  is  narrowed  to  a  simple  issue. 
Christianity  cannot  be  due  to  the  goodness  and 
wisdom  of  a  man,  marred  by  a  pardonable  element 
of  error;  for  it  is  simply  and  solely  on  the  sup- 
posed element  of  error  that  it  rests ;  and  its  mis- 
sionaries, its  martyrs,  its  holy  and  humble  men  of 
heart,  all  of  strongest  that  human  souls  have  done, 
all  of  saintliest  that  human  eyes  have  seen,  will 
have  derived  their  inspiration  either  from  folly  or 
from  fraud."  —  Personality  Human  and  Divine, 
pp.  196-199. 

Note  25.  Page  94.  —  ''Of  itself  Son  of  Man  in 
Hebrew  and  Aramaic  simply  means  child  of  man, 
that  is,  man, —  with  perhaps  a  certain  poetic  tinge, 
and  with  a  subordinate  conception  of  dependence 
and  weakness.  The  expression  is  frequent  in  the 
Old  Testament  in  this  sense,  and  appears  in  the 
plural,  just  as  in  Mark  iii.  28.  But  though  this 
fundamental  meaning  could  never  be  lost  in  any 
further  defining   of  the  conception,   it  cannot  be 


360  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

sufficient  in  the  case  of  Jesus.  As  we  have  already 
said,  Jesus  had  no  need  to  assure  any  one  in  the 
days  of  His  flesh  that  He  was  a  child  of  man ;  and 
the  view  that  He  desired  —  as  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment phrases,  thy  servant,  thy  handmaid  (instead 
of  I)  —  to  paraphrase  His  ego  in  this  way,  is 
destroyed  by  the  twofold  consideration  that  He 
must  then  have  said  this  Son  of  man,  and  that 
Jesus,  as  the  Gospels  show,  did  not  avoid  the 
simple  I.  For  if,  in  certain  cases.  He  makes  use 
of  the  name  Son  of  man  instead  of  the  simple  I, 
He  manifestly  wishes  in  some  way  to  mark  Avhat 
is  peculiar  to  Himself.  .  .  .  Among  all  the  pas- 
sages in  the  Old  Testament  in  which  the  expres- 
sion Son  of  man  appears,  there  is  only  one  (Dan. 
vii.  13)  in  which  it  has  a  Messianic  sense:  'I  saw 
in  the  night  visions,  and,  behold,  one  like  the  Son 
of  man  came  with  the  clouds  of  heaven,  and  came 
to  the  Ancient  of  days,  and  they  brought  Him  near 
before  Him.  And  there  was  given  Him  dominion, 
and  glory,  and  a  kingdom,  that  all  people,  nations, 
and  languages,  should  serve  Him;  His  dominion 
is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which  shall  not  be 
destroyed.'  That  this  passage  from  Daniel  must 
lie  at  the  basis  of  Jesus'  enigmatic  self -designation 
is  now  recognized,  not  indeed  universally,  but  by 
ever-increasing  numbers.  And  really  —  when  the 
Book  of  Enoch,  that  Jewish,  and  in  part  Jewish- 
Christian  Apocalypse  of  the  century  of  Jesus,  has, 
in  virtue  of  this  passage  of  Daniel,  directly 
stamped  the  name  Son  of  man  as  the  name  of 
Messiah;    when   our   canonical   Apocalypse   twice 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  361 

applies  Daniel's  phrase  (I.  13,  xvi.  14)  to  the 
glorified  Christ,  and  Jesus  Himself  on  two  occa- 
sions unmistakably  refers  to  Dan.  vii.  13,  when 
He  speaks  (Matt.  xxiv.  30,  xxvi.  64)  of  the  Son 
of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  —  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  any  one  can  object  to  that 
origin.  The  fact  lies  clearly  before  us,  that  the 
same  passage  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  a  book  much 
read  and  highly  honoured  in  our  Lord's  day,  fur- 
nishes the  conception  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
—  the  eternal  kingdom  to  be  received  from  God  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven,  —  and  the  conception  of  the 
Son  of  man,  as  the  receiver  and  bearer  of  this 
kingdom.  The  mutual  relation  which  we  per- 
ceive, in  all  the  declarations  of  Jesus,  between 
His  character  as  Son  of  man  and  His  calling  as 
bringer  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  lies  before  us 
originally  in  that  passage  of  Daniel.  And  there- 
with the  whole  riddle  is  at  bottom  solved.  The 
Son  of  man  is  the  God-invested  bearer  of  the 
kingdom  that  descends  from  above,  that  is  to  be 
founded  from  heaven;  it  is  He  who  brings  in  the 
kingdom  of  God."  — Dr.  Willtbald  Beyschlag, 
New  Testament  Theology  (T.  &  T.  Clark,  1895),  Vol. 
L,  pp.  62,  63,  64. 

Note  26.  Page  99.  —  "  As  regards  the  apostolic 
testimony,  the  ground  is  happily  cleared  in  modern 
times  by  the  large  measure  of  general  agreement 
which  exists  among  impartial  exegetes  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  doctrines  taught  in  the  several 
books.      The   old   Unitarian   glosses   on   passages 


862  Appendix  [Lecturk  III 

which  seemed  to  affirm  the  Divinity  of  Christ  are 
now  seldom  met  Avith;  and  it  is  freely  admitted 
that  the  bulk  of  the  New  Testament  writings 
teach  a  doctrine  of  Christ's  Person  practically  as 
high  as  the  Church  has  ever  affirmed.  For  in- 
stance, it  is  no  longer  disputed  by  any  competent 
authority  that,  in  Paul  and  John,  it  is  the  super- 
natural view  of  Christ's  Person  that  is  given.  As 
to  John,  —  using  that  name  at  present  for  the 
author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  related  Epistles, 
—  his  doctrine  of  Christ  is  of  the  highest.  This 
is  admitted  by  the  most  negative  critics,  e.g.  by 
Dr.  Martineau,  who  says  that  the  phrase  '  Son  of 
God,'  applied  to  the  pre-existing  Word  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel,  leaves  all  finite  analogies  behind. 
'The  oneness  with  God  which  it  means  to  mark  is 
not  such  resembling  reflex  of  the  Divine  thought 
and  character  as  men  or  angels  may  attain,  but 
identity  of  essence,  constituting  Him  not  godlike 
alone,  but  God.  Others  may  be  children  of  God 
in  a  moral  sense;  but  by  this  right  of  elemental 
nature,  none  but  He;  He  is,  herein,  the  only  Son; 
so  little  separate,  so  close  to  the  inner  Divine  life 
which  He  expresses,  that  He  is  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Father.  This  language  undoubtedly  describes 
a  great  deal  more  than  such  harmony  of  will  and 
sympathy  of  affection  as  may  subsist  between 
finite  obedience  and  its  infinite  Inspirer;  it  de- 
notes two  natures  homogeneous,  entirely  one;  and 
both  so  essential  to  the  Godhead  that  neither  can 
be  omitted  from  any  truth  you  speak  of  it.  It 
was  one  and  the  same  Logos  that  in  the  beginning 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  36^5 

was  witli  God,  who  in  due  time  appeared  in  human 
form,  and  showed  forth  the  Father's  pure  perfec- 
tions in  relation  to  mankind,  who  then  returned  to 
His  eternal  life,  with  the  spiritual  ties  unbroken 
which  He  brought  from  His  finished  work.'  " —  The 
Christian  View  of  God  and  the  World,  pp.  253,  254. 

Note  27.  Page  106.  —  "  What  fresh  characteris- 
tics, then,  has  this  new  revelation  to  add  to  the 
Old  Testament  teaching  about  God?  He  is  still 
One,  the  only  God.  He  is  j)erfect  Righteousness, 
yet,  as  even  the  old  religion  knew,  a  God  of  loving- 
kindness  and  tender  mercy,  'Who  wills  not  the 
death  of  the  sinner.'  But  more  than  all  this,  He 
is  now  revealed  to  man  as  Infinite  Love,  the  One 
Father  of  humanity,  whose  only  begotten  Son  is 
Incarnate  and  'made  man  that  we  may  be  made 
God.'  Not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  the  old  revelation 
of  God,  as  a  God  of  Righteousness,  is  lost  or  can- 
celled. The  moral  teaching  is  stern  and  uncom- 
promising as  ever.  God's  love,  which  is  Himself, 
is  not  the  invertebrate  amiability,  or  weak  good- 
naturedness,  to  which  some  would  reduce  it.  'The 
highest  righteousness  of  the  Old  Testament  is 
raised  to  the  completeness  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.'  'The  New  Testament,'  it  has  been  said, 
'  with  all  its  glad  tidings  of  mercy,  is  a  severe 
book.'  For  the  goodness  and  the  severity  of  God 
are,  as  it  were,  the  convex  and  the  concave  in  His 
moral  nature.  But  what  seized  upon  the  imagina- 
tion of  mankind  as  the  distinctive  revelation  of 
Christianity  was  the  infinite  love  and  tenderness 


364  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

and  compassion  of  this  Eigliteoiis  God  for  sinful 
man.  It  was  this  which  shone  out  in  the  char- 
acter of  Clirist.  He  was  Very  God,  with  a  Divine 
hatred  of  evil,  yet  living  as  man  among  men, 
revealing  the  true  idea  of  God,  and  not  only  real- 
izing in  His  human  life  the  moral  ideal  of  man, 
but  by  taking  human  nature  into  Himself  setting 
loose  a  power  of  moral  regeneration,  of  which  the 
world  had  never  dreamed/"'  —  Lux  Mundi  (John 
Murray,  London,  1890),  pp.  75,  76. 

Note  28.  Page  107.  —  "  The  constructive  thought 
of  Paul  starts  with  the  historical  person  of  Jesus, 
and  his  primary  postulate  may  be  said  to  be  its 
truth  and  reality.  This  historical  Person  is  to 
him  the  one  and  only  Messiah.  In  the  Gospels 
Jesus  is  a  personal,  but  Christ  an  official,  name, 
and  the  two  are  never  interchanged  or  confounded; 
but  in  the  Pauline  Epistle  Christ  has  become  as 
personal  a  name  as  Jesus  —  i.e.  the  Person  so  con- 
stitutes the  office  and  the  office  is  so  incorporated 
in  the  Person  that  distinction  has  ceased  to  be  pos- 
sible. .  .  .  Now,  it  is  the  distinction  of  Paul  that 
he  made  this  unity,  with  all  it  involved,  articulate, 
and  it  is  also  characteristic  that  the  determinative 
idea  in  the  system  which  he  elaborated  with  so 
much  dialectical  passion  came  from  the  personality 
of  Jesus  and  not  from  the  Messianic  office.  That 
idea  was  His  hlial  relation,  His  Divine  Sonship. 
What  was  to  him  the  primary  fact  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  Jesus  became  the  constitutive  factor 
of  his  own  thought.     By  the  revelation  of  the  Son 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  365 

in  him  he  was  made  a  Christian  and  an  Apostle. 
His  Gospel  concerned  the  Son  of  God,  who  is 
God's  own  Son,  His  beloved,  the  Son  of  His  love. 
This  Sonship  did  not  begin  with  His  historical 
existence,  but  preceded  and  even  determined  it. 
God  sends  forth  His  Son,  who  exists  before  He 
can  be  sent  forth,  and  comes  that  He  may  create 
in  man  the  spirit  of  the  sonship  He  Himself  has 
by  nature.  He,  though  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes 
becomes  poor.  He  comes  out  of  heaven,  descends 
from  above  that  He  may  ascend  with  man  re- 
deemed. Hence  there  follows  a  twofold  conse- 
quence, the  one  affecting  the  Son,  the  other  the 
Father.  As  to  the  Son,  a  place  and  an  eminence  are 
ascribed  to  Him  that  involve  rank  and  honour.  .  .  . 
But  so  to  construe  Christ  is  to  modify  the  whole 
conception  of  God.  Abstract  monotheism  ceases, 
and  is  replaced  by  a  theism  which  finds  within  the 
one  Godhead  room  for  both  Father  and  Son.  It 
is  the  characteristic  of  the  Pauline  theology  that 
it  is  a  theology  of  the  Fatherhood  which  is  through 
the  Sonship.  Neither  can  be  without  the  other; 
both  must  be  together,  or  neither  can  be  at  all. 
The  ideas  exist  in  what  we  may  term  a  spontaneous 
rather  than  an  explicated  and  formulated  unity, 
but  they  exist  and  are  co-ordinated.  The  divinity 
of  both  Father  and  Son  was  affirmed;  later  thought 
must  determine  how  their  unity  could  be  conceived 
and  expressed.  The  great  thing  gained  was, 
Fatherhood  and  Sonship  were  as  immanent  essen- 
tial to  Deity." — The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern 
Theology,  pp.  306,  307,  309. 


366  ApiJendix  [Lecture  III 

Note  29.  Page  108. —  "It  is  remarkable  that 
the  Apostles  seem  to  have  experienced  no  intel- 
lectual difficulty  in  regard  to  this  Trinity  in  the 
Godhead.  I  suppose  this  is  to  be  accounted  for,  by 
the  fact  that  difficulties  in  logic  do  not  trouble  us 
at  all  where  facts  of  experience  are  in  question. 
Thus  we  are  often  ludicrously  at  fault  in  attempt- 
ing to  give  a  logical  account  of  quite  familiar 
experiences,  for  example,  of  the  inner  relations  of 
those  three  strangely  independent  elements  of  our 
own  spiritual  being,  will,  and  reason,  and  feeling, 
or  of  the  relation  of  mind  and  body.  But  our  in- 
ability to  explain  facts  logically  goes  no  way  at  all 
to  alter  our  sense  of  their  reality.  Noav  the  Apos- 
tles lived  in  a  vivid  sense  of  experienced  inter- 
course, first  with  the  Son,  then  with  the  Father 
through  the  Son,  later  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
with  the  Father  and  the  Son  through  the  Holy  Ghost. 
This  vivid  experience,  outward  and  inward,  made 
logical  formulas  unnecessary.  When  the  formula  of 
the  Trinity  —  three  Persons  in  one  Substance  —  was 
developed  in  the  Church  later  on,  through  the  cross- 
questioning  of  heresies,  it  was  with  many  apologies 
for  the  inadequacy  of  human  language,  and  with  a 
deep  sense  of  the  inscrutableness  of  God.  The 
formula  was  simply  intended  to  express  and  guard 
the  realities  disclosed  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  great  stress  was  laid  on  the  divine  unity. 
The  three  Persons  are  not  separable  individuals, 
so  that  it  could  be  argued  that  what  one  of  the 
sacred  three  does,  another  does  not  do,  as  we  com- 
monly argue  about  persons  amongst  ourselves,  re- 


Lecture  III]  Ajjpendix  367 

garding  each  person  as  separate  and  exclusive  of 
others.  God  in  three  is  inseparably  one.  Thus  if 
He  creates,  it  is  the  Father  through  the  Son  by  the 
Holy  Ghost;  if  He  redeems,  it  is  the  Father  who 
is  the  fount  of  redemption  through  the  Son,  by  the 
Holy  Ghost;  if  the  Spirit  comes,  He  brings  with 
Him  in  His  coming  the  Son  and  the  Father,  for  in 
eternal  subordination  and  order,  the  three  are  one 
inseparable  God."  —  Gore,  The  Incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God,  pp.  144,  145. 

'^  If  there  is  a  true  historical  sense  in  which  the 
clear  definition  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of 
Jesus  Christ  must  be  assigned  to  the  Councils  of 
the  fouth  and  fifth  centuries,  yet  it  would  be  a 
great  historical  blunder  to  state  or  imagine,  as 
inference,  that  till  then  the  doctrine  was  only  held 
partially  or  with  imperfect  consciousness  in  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  Church  did  not,  as  a  result 
of  those  controversies,  develop  the  consciousness 
of  any  new  doctrine;  the  development  of  her  con- 
sciousness was  rather  in  respect  of  the  shallow  but 
tempting  logic  which  would  deform,  or  the  delu- 
sions which  might  counterfeit,  her  doctrine,  and 
of  the  perils  to  which  these  must  lead.  It  may  be 
a  question,  indeed,  how  far  the  words  implicit  and 
explicit  do,  or  do  not,  represent  the  distinction 
between  the  dogmatic  consciousness  of  the  Apos- 
tolic and  the  Conciliar  ages.  The  difficulty  in 
determining  depends  solely  on  this,  that  the  words 
themselves  are  used  with  different  meanings. 
Thus,  sometimes  men  are  said  to  hold  implicitly 


368  Ajypendix  [Lecture  III 

what  they  never  perhaps  suspected  themselves  of 
holding,  if  it  can  be  shown  to  be  a  more  or  less 
legitimate  outcome,  or  logical  development,  of  their 
belief.  If  such  men  advance  inferentially  from 
point  to  pointy  their  explicit  belief  at  a  later  time 
may  be,  in  many  particulars,  materially  different 
from  what  it  had  been  at  an  earlier;  even  though 
it  might  be  logically  shown  that  the  earlier  thought 
was,  more  or  less  directly,  the  parent  of  the  later. 
Now  in  any  such  sense  as  this  we  shall  stoutly 
maintain  that,  from  the  beginning,  the  Church 
held  dogmatic  truths  not  implicitly,  but  explicitly 
and  positively.  They  who  baptized  into  the  three- 
fold Xame  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost;  whose  blessing  was  'The  grace 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and 
the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost ' ;  who,  living 
in  the  Spirit,  lived  in  Christ;  whose  highest  wor- 
ship was  the  Communion  of  the  Body  and  the 
Blood  of  Christ,  and  whose  perfectness  of  life  was 
Christ;  they,  so  living  and  worsliipping,  did  not 
hold  the  Godhead  of  Jesus  Christ  implicitly;  they 
did  not  hold  something  out  of  which  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  might  come  to  be  unfolded.  On  the 
other  hand,  you  may  use  the  same  contrast  of 
words,  meaning  merely  that  you  have,  through 
cross-questioning  or  otherwise,  obtained  a  power 
which  you  did  not  possess,  of  defining,  in  thought 
and  in  words,  the  limits  of  your  belief,  and  distin- 
guishing it  precisely  from  whatever  does  not  belong 
to  it.  You  hold  still  what  you  always  meant  to 
hold.     You  say  still  what  you  always  meant  to 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  369 

say.  But  it  is  your  intellectual  mastery  over  your 
own  meaning  which  is  altered.  Like  a  person 
fresh  from  the  encounter  of  a  keen  cross-exami- 
nation, you  are  furnished  now,  as  you  were  not 
before,  with  distinctions  and  comparisons,  with 
definitions  and  measurements, —  in  a  word,  with 
all  that  intellectual  equipment,  that  furniture  of 
alert  perception  and  exact  language,  by  which  you 
are  able  to  realize  for  yourself,  as  well  as  to  define 
to  others,  what  that  meaning  exactly  is,  and  what 
it  is  not,  which  itself  was  before,  as  truly  as  it  is 
now,  the  very  thing  that  you  meant. 

"Take,  for  example,  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Trinity.  Intellectually  it  is,  of  course,  antecedent 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Atone- 
ment. But  it  will  be  observed  that  it  is  made 
known  to  us  not  antecedently,  but  as  a  consequence 
of  our  previous  conviction  of  the  Incarnation. 
Moreover,  when  it  is  made  known,  it  is  made 
known  rather  incidently  than  directly.  Even 
though  it  is,  when  revealed  and  apprehended,  the 
inclusive  sum  of  our  faith,  yet  there  is,  in  the 
revelation,  no  formal  unfolding  of  it,  as  of  a  mys- 
terious truth  set  to  challenge  our  express  contem- 
plation and  worship.  There  is  nothing  here  to  be 
found  in  the  least  corresponding  with  the  explicit 
challenge,  'Whom  say  ye  that  I  am'  or  'On  this 
rock  will  I  build  my  church ' ;  but  rather  indi- 
rectly, so  far  as  our  contemplation  of  the  Incarna- 
tion and  its  abiding  consequences  requires  for  its 
own  necessary  interpretation  to  our  understanding, 
that  we  should  have  some  insight  into  the  mystery 

2b 


370  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

of  the  distinction  of  Persons  in  the  Godhead,  so 
far,  and  in  reference  to  that  purpose,  the  mystery 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  grows  gradually  into  clearness 
of  revelation  to  our  consciousness."  —  Lux  Mundi, 
pp.  238,  239,  245,  246. 

"Through  all  the  fierce  theological  and  conse- 
quently political  controversies  that  disturbed  the 
Church  for  nearly  three  centuries  after  the  Great 
Council,  the  Nicene  Creed  survived.  It  is  still 
the  creed  of  the  whole  vast  Greek  Church;  with 
some  modifications  it  is  also  the  creed  of  the  Latin 
Church;  and  in  its  original  form  and  stripped  of 
its  condemnatory  clauses,  it  is  substantially  the 
creed  of  universal  Christendom.  Under  the  influ- 
ence mainly  of  Augustine,  the  Latin  theology  soon 
dominated  the  Western  Church  and  gradually  ex- 
cluded or  suppressed  the  nobler  and  richer  thought 
of  the  Greek  Fathers.  The  Latin  theology  to  some 
extent  obscured,  and  while  seeming  to  affirm, 
almost  denied,  the  fundamental  and  structural 
doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  the  enunciation  and 
persistent  defence  of  which  was  the  chief  merit 
of  Athanasius.  That  doctrine,  however,  survived 
through  all  strife,  and  now,  amidst  the  changes 
and  even  the  wreck  of  creeds,  it  still  survives.  In 
its  real  essence,  it  is  not  an  arithmetical  threeness 
of  persons  inexplicably  inhering  in  one  substance, 
so  that  we  have  the  impossible  conception,  —  three 
equals  one, —  as  it  so  often  appears  in  dogmatic 
theology;  but  it  is  the  reality  of  God  in  Christ,  as 
the  revelation  and  archetype  of  God  in  humanity. 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  371 

[ind  the  pledge  of  the  perfect  fulfilment  of  man's 
life  by  his  perfect  union  with  the  divine,  'being 
filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God.'  It  is  the 
supreme  doctrine  of  Christianity,  —  the  Incarna- 
tion, the  immanence  of  God  in  the  realm  of  per- 
sonality as  well  as  in  the  realm  of  nature."  — 
Philip  S.  Moxom,  From  Jerusalem  to  Niccea  (Bos- 
ton, 1895),  pp.  442  ff. 

Note  30.  Page  117.  —  "So  far,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  the  Christian  doctrine  simply  takes  up,  extends, 
illuminates,  the  great  natural  Law  of  Evolution. 

"  But,  as  yet,  we  have  not  viewed  it  as  distinctly 
Christian;  we  have  not  asked  what  is  the  bearing 
in  this  aspect  of  the  Manifestation  in  the  fulness 
of  the  time  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  Son  of  man. 

"The  truth  itself  of  that  Manifestation  —  let  us 
again  put  this  clearly  before  ourselves,  and  pro- 
claim it  to  the  world  —  is  the  Divine  mystery  of 
mysteries,  a  secret  of  the  Will  and  Mature  of  God, 
revealed  only  to  faith  in  the  word  of  Him  who 
said,  'I  came  forth  from  the  Father  and  am  come 
into  the  world;  again  I  leave  the  world  and  go 
unto  the  Father. '  We  should  hardly  dare  to  bring 
it  into  analogy  with  the  lower  manifestations  of 
God  to  man,  if  we  did  not  remember  that  in  all 
analogy  the  higher  reality  necessarily  transcends 
the  lower,  and  that  our  Lord  Himself  in  His  Para- 
bles taught  us  to  shadow  out  by  comparison  with 
earthly  things  His  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  From 
these  lower  manifestations,  who  could  have  con- 
ceived beforehand  —  who  can  even  now  comprehend 


372  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

—  tlie  Personal  Incarnation  of  Goclliead  in  human- 
ity? If  it  may  perhaps  be  foreshadowed  by  the 
recognition  of  the  power  of  God,  as  immanent  in 
all  creation,  and  more  visibly  immanent  (so  to 
speak)  in  humanity,  yet  how  dim  this  foreshadow- 
ing, compared  with  the  brightness  of  the  reality! 

"But  in  what  way  is  its  actual  working  in  the 
world  represented  to  us?  It  is,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  described  as  a  '  new  Creation  '  —  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  spiritual  Order  —  which  yet  does  not 
break  continuity  with  the  past,  but,  while  it  brings 
in  a  Divine  spiritual  force  before  unknown,  takes 
up  and  subordinates  to  its  higher  purpose  all  the 
forces  of  the  old  Creation.  Clearly  in  this  repre- 
sentation there  is  a  striking  analogy  to  all  that  has 
gone  before.  By  what  is  actually  in  effect  a  new 
Creation  —  whether  it  be  connected  or  disconnected 
with  the  old  —  we  have  seen  at  each  step  the  intro- 
duction into  the  world  of  a  new  power,  as  we  pass 
from  the  Inorganic  realm  of  lifeless  Nature  to  the 
realm  of  Organic  Life,  from  the  realm  of  Organic 
Life  to  the  realm  of  Humanity.  Now  that  natural 
progress  is  shown  to  us  as  carried  on  to  a  Supernat- 
ural perfection  by  the  bringing  in  of  a  new  Divine 
Life — at  once  the  Light  and  the  Life  of  men — enter- 
ing into  the  humanity  which  is  the  crown  and  cul- 
mination of  the  old  development,  in  order  to  raise  it 
to  unity  with  the  Divine  Nature  itself.  This  new 
Creation  is  set  forth  to  us  as  an  integral  element, 
as  the  highest  element,  of  the  whole  Divine  Order; 
foreordained  before  the  foundation  of  the  world; 
in  some  way  coexisting  with  the  lower  elements 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  378 

in  anticipatory  power  before  its  actual  Mani- 
festation; prepared  for  under  God's  Providence 
through  all  'the  fulness  of  time.'  The  Manifesta- 
tion, being  in  a  Personality  at  once  Divine  and 
human,  is  necessarily  complete  in  itself,  unique, 
unapproachable,  begun  in  the  visible  life  of  Christ 
on  earth,  continued  still  in  its  completeness  in  the 
invisible  life  of  heaven.  From  the  nature  of  the 
case,  its  relation  to  the  human  personality,  as  a 
living  power,  is  a  thing  supernatural,  transcending 
tlie  analogy  on  which  v/e  are  now  dwelling.  But 
yet  in  its  effect  both  on  the  individual  and  on  the 
collective  life  of  all  mankind,  it  is  clearly  (to  use 
our  Lord's  own  comparison)  a  seed  sown  in  the 
spiritual  soil  of  humanity  —  a  leaven  infused  into 
its  threefold  nature  —  a  germ  to  be  developed 
through  the  ages  of  a  new  dispensation,  which  is 
to  last  till  its  work  shall  come  to  the  full  possible 
perfection,  and  then  to  give  place  to  a  higher  dis- 
pensation still,  'that  God  may  be  all  in  all.' 

"  So  every  way  there  comes  out  to  us  the  concep- 
tion of  the  development  of  the  Life  of  Christ  in 
humanity,  as  the  supernatural  crown  of  the  great 
Order  of  Evolution;  and,  if  this  be  so.  Science, 
which  has  traced  this  order  in  its  lower  forms, 
thus  becomes,  or  should  become,  the  TraiSaywyos  to 
lead  us  to  the  liighest  in  Christ  Himself.  It  is  a 
part  of  this  analogy,  that  in  this  highest  sphere  of 
the  great  Order  there  should  be  manifested  a  Law 
and  a  Power  peculiarly  its  own.  For  in  the  vari- 
ous provinces  of  being,  which  show  themselves  to 
us  as  distinct,  the  one  'God  fulfils  Himself  in  many 


3T4  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

ways.'  In  one  sphere  Evolution  is  ordered  through 
Matter  and  the  physical  forces  which  pervade  it; 
in  another  there  is  added  in  combination  with  these 
the  new  force  of  Life,  with  its  inner  capacity  of 
assimilation  and  growth;  in  a  third  there  comes 
with  both  and  above  both  the  infused  life  of  human 
personality,  with  reason,  conscience,  love,  and  free- 
dom of  will  to  use  them.  Closer  and  closer  in  each 
successive  phase  there  is  revealed  to  us,  in  relation 
to  created  being,  the  Personality  of  God, —  not  His 
attributes,  but  Himself.  So  in  this  the  supernat- 
ural sphere  of  the  great  Order,  the  new  and  domi- 
nant Force  should  by  analogy  be,  as  indeed  it  is, 
distinctly  Supernatural,  in  harmony  with  the  lower 
forces,  but  distinct  from  all.  For  it  is  the  comple- 
tion of  that  relation  of  true  personality  —  all  the 
number  numberless  of  human  souls  being  drawn  to 
the  Personality,  at  once  Divine  and  human,  of  the 
Eternal  Son,  in  a  communion  wrought  out  by  the 
Eternal  Spirit  of  God,  and  restoring  us  to  the  son- 
ship  of  the  Eternal  Father."  —  Alfred  Barry, 
Some  Lights  of  Science  on  the  Faith  (London, 
Longmans,  1892),  pp.  128-131,  135,  136. 

Note  31.  Page  121.  — ''Lose  out  of  faith  the 
sense  of  the  Eternal  in  Christ,  fail  to  recognize  in 
Him  the  presence  of  the  Absolute,  miss  the  fact 
that  His  nature  is  rooted  in  the  Deity  and  is  part 
of  the  nature  of  God,  and  we  let  go  the  sole  ade- 
quate support  for  belief  in  the  consubstantiation  of 
humanity  with  divinity,  and  the  consciousness  that 
Jesus  is  the  moral  ideal  for  mankind.     The  Christ 


Lecture  III]  Appendix  375 

who  embodies  the  deepest  in  God,  who  incarnates 
the  Eternal  Filial  in  the  Infinite,  is  essential  to 
hold  for  the  world  the  great  convictions  of  the 
kinship  between  man  and  his  Maker,  and  the  pres- 
ence in  Jesus  of  the  true  and  final  standard  of 
human  life.  If  the  difference  in  Christ  to  human- 
ity is  the  difference  of  the  very  God,  then  we  can 
believe  that  the  identity  in  Christ  to  our  race  is 
the  identity  of  tlie  very  God.  But  if  the  contrast 
in  the  Lord  to  mankind  does  not  reach  to  the  being 
of  God,  if  it  is  not  the  manifestation  of  the  Eternal, 
if  it  is  only  individual  idiosyncrasy,  the  mere 
separate,  high-coloured  envelope  in  which  His 
humanity  comes  into  the  world  and  preserves  its 
secrets  from  the  vulgar  crowd  with  whom  it  must 
be  thrown  together,  tlien  it  follows  inevitably  that 
the  kinship  of  Christ  to  His  brethren  does  not 
carry  us  to  the  heart  of  the  universe,  does  not  go 
beyond  the  bounds  of  space  and  time.  Only  a 
Christ  whose  antithesis  to  humanity  means  the 
presence  of  tlie  very  God  can  by  His  union  with 
humanity  assure  us  of  union  with  God.  Discredit 
the  infinite  difference,  and  we  must  doubt  the  sub- 
lime identity.  This  contention  will  be  self-evident 
to  those  who  see  that  we  owe  our  faith  in  the 
humanity  of  God  and  in  the  divinit}^  of  man,  not 
primarily  to  philosophy,  but  to  the  power  of  the 
historic  process.  Kevelation  is  ever  through  life 
the  apprehension  of  the  Infinite  Personality  through 
the  finite;  philosophy  comes  afterwards  and  finds 
her  task.  If  we  take  Christ  out  of  the  historic 
process   of  revelation,  we  decapitate  faith   in  tlie 


376  Appendix  [Lecture  III 

humanness  of  God  and  tlie  divineness  of  man.  We 
must  remember  the  rock  whence  our  belief  was 
hewn,  the  pit  whence  it  was  dug.  It  was  not  in 
the  world  prior  to  Christ  except  in  the  form  of 
intermittent  prophetic  dream,  limited  religious 
intuition,  or  vague,  ineffectual  philosophic  fancy. 
It  was  not  here  as  the  ruling  force  in  human  civili- 
zation. The  consubstantiation  of  man  with  God  is 
the  accepted  and  moulding  belief  of  Christendom 
to-day  because  of  the  revelation  of  the  nature  both 
of  God  and  man  made  through  Jesus  Christ."  — 
Gordon,  The  Christ  of  To-day,  pp.  119-121. 


LECTURE   IV 

Note  32.  Page  128.  —  "  The  history  of  art  shows 
us  numbers  of  artists  who,  grouped  around  some 
greater  man,  imitate  his  processes,  as  in  the  full 
belief  that  all  there  is  of  art  is  ]3rocess,  or  what  is 
sometimes  called  technique.  The  greater  man  has 
made  the  dress  he  wears  as  the  birds  make  their 
plumage.  The  imitator  imitates  the  dress."  — 
John  La  Faroe,  Considerations  on  Painting  (Mac- 
millan,  New  York,  1895),  p.  26. 

Note  33.  Page  131. — "Being  thirty  years  old 
when  He  came  to  be  baptized,  and  then  possessing 
the  full  age  of  a  Master,  He  came  to  Jerusalem,  so 
that  He  might  be  properly  acknowledged  by  all  as 
a  Master.  For  He  did  not  seem  one  thing  while 
He  was  another,  as  those  affirm  who  describe  Him 


Lecture  IV]  Appendix  377 

as  being  a  man  only  in  appearance ;  but  what  He 
was,  that  He  also  appeared  to  be.  Being  a  Mas- 
ter, therefore,  He  also  possessed  the  age  of  a 
Master,  not  despising  or  evading  any  condition  of 
humanity,  nor  setting  aside  in  Himself  that  law 
which  He  had  appointed  for  the  human  race,  but 
sanctifying  every  age,  by  that  period  corresponding 
to  it  which  belonged  to  Himself.  For  He  came  to 
save  all  through  means  of  Himself,  —  all,  I  say, 
who  through  Him  are  born  again  to  God, —  infants, 
and  children,  and  boys,  and  youths,  and  old  men. 
He  therefore  passed  through  every  age,  becoming 
an  infant  for  infants,  thus  sanctifying  infants;  a 
child  for  children,  thus  sanctifying  those  who  are 
of  this  age,  being  at  the  same  time  made  to  them 
an  example  of  piety,  righteousness,  and  submis- 
sion ;  a  youth  for  youths,  becoming  an  example  to 
youths,  and  thus  sanctifying  them  for  the  Lord. 
So  likewise  He  was  an  old  man  for  old  men,  that 
He  might  be  a  perfect  Master  for  all,  not  merely 
as  respects  the  setting  forth  of  the  truth,  but  also 
as  regards  age,  sanctifying  at  the  same  time  the 
aged  also,  and  becoming  an  example  to  them  like- 
wise. Then,  at  last,  He  came  on  to  death  itself, 
that  He  might  be  'the  first-born  from  the  dead, 
that  in  all  things  He  might  have  the  pre-eminence, ' 
the  Prince  of  Life,  existing  before  all,  and  going 
before  all."  —  Iren^us,  Ante- Nicene  Library,  Vol. 
I.,  p.  199. 

The  one  error  against  which  Ignatius  was  most 
careful  to  warn  Christians  was  the  obscuration  of 


378  Appendix  [Lecture  1M 

Christ's  humanity.  "Stop  your  ears  therefore 
when  any  one  speaks  to  you  at  variance  with 
Jesus  Christ  who  was  descended  from  David,  and 
was  also  of  Mary;  who  was  truly  born  and  did  eat 
and  drink.  He  was  truly  persecuted  under  Pon- 
tius Pilate ;  He  was  truly  crucified  and  truly  died, 
in  the  sight  of  beings  in  heaven  and  on  earth  and 
under  the  earth."  —  Epistles  of  Ignatius  to  the 
Trallians,  Chap.  LX. 

Note  34.  Page  140.  —  "  In  His  mother's  womb 
the  body  of  Christ  was  also  already  omnipresent; 
when  He  went  anywhere,  He  was  in  His  humanity 
properly  there  already;  risen  from  the  grave  He 
was  in  His  humanity  still  in  the  grave;  whilst  He 
hung  upon  tlie  cross,  He  was  also  in  Athens,  and 
ruled  omnipresently  the  world.  Thus  the  birth 
of  Christ,  His  movements.  His  resurrection  and 
ascension,  became  only  an  epideictic  action,  a 
Docetism  which  threatens  to  dissolve  completely 
the  condition  of  humiliation,  the  learning  and 
growth.  At  the  same  time,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  truthfulness  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  they 
would  speak  also  of  a  growing,  suffering,  and 
exalted  humanity  of  Christ  alongside  of  one  that 
was  from  the  beginning  omniscience,  omnipo- 
tent, and  omnipresent.  Thus  this  very  energetic 
striving  after  the  unity  of  the  Person  of  the 
God-man  ended  rather  in  a  double  humanity  of 
Christ,  a  dualism,  which  renewed  all  the  prob- 
lems and  absolutely  rent  asunder  again  the  unity 
of    the    Person."  —  Dokner,    History    of    Protes- 


Lecture  IV]  Appe^ldix  379 

tant    Theology    (T.    &    T.    Clark,    1871),    Vol.    I., 
p.  365. 

Note  35.  Page  145. — "The  Jesus  who  lived, 
suffered,  and  died  as  a  real  man  on  earth  is  the 
same  personality  who  was  before,  as  the  Logos  of 
God,  with  the  Father,  and  was  God,  and  by  whom 
all  things  are  made.  This  is  the  marvellous  prob- 
lem which  has  for  eighteen  centuries  exercised  the 
minds  of  believers. 

"  The  Logos  of  God,  to  whom  the  Father  gives 
to  have  life  in  Himself  even  as  He  has,  is,  as  such, 
eternal;  His  self-consciousness  is  therefore  eternally 
clear,  His  knowledge  eternally  perfect.  His  will 
eternally  fixed  and  holy,  and  His  life  eternal 
bliss. 

"  The  man  Jesus  on  earth,  however,  so  certainty 
as  His  development  was  really  human,  was  as  an 
embryo  and  newly  born  infant  without  self-con- 
sciousness. By  degrees  His  self-consciousness  is 
awakened.  When  He  sleeps  it  is  suspended,  or,  at 
all  events,  reduced  to  a  state  of  obscurity.  And 
when  He  dies,  commending  His  spirit  into  the  hands 
of  His  Heavenly  Father,  He  again  loses  His  self- 
consciousness,  till  the  moment  when  the  Father 
quickens  Him  as  to  the  spirit  who  was  dead  as  to 
the  flesh  (1  Pet.  iii.  18).  Again,  as  Jesus  was  a 
real  child,  He  was  childlike  in  every  respect.  He 
acquired  His  knowledge  gradually  (Luke  ii.  52,  40). 
Whenever  He  fell  asleep.  His  knowledge  of  God  and 
the  world  was  veiled.  Nor  was  His  knowledge  of 
the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  unlimited,  as  He  Himself 


380  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

testifies  during  the  very  last  days  of  His  life  (Mark 
xiii.  32).  In  fine,  it  is  a  matter  of  course  that  in 
the  hour  of  death  He  lost  His  knowledge  together 
with  His  self-consciousness. 

"The  development  of  His  will  was  likewise 
gradual.  His  purposes  were  developed  gradually; 
His  will  becoming  by  degrees  subject  to,  or  rather 
identified  with,  that  of  His  Heavenly  Father.  He 
learned  obedience  (Heb.  v.  8).  He  was,  indeed, 
never  disobedient,  even  in  His  sorest  trials,  but  on 
every  new  trial  and  suffering  He  resigned  His 
natural  will  afresh.  This  He  did  even  in  the  final 
struggle  of  Gethsemane.  At  the  close  of  each 
period  of  His  life  He  had  attained  a  higher  degree 
of  holiness,  but  not  till  the  close  of  His  earthly 
career  did  He  attain  that  perfection  of  holiness 
which  admits  of  no  further  progress. 

"The  life  of  Jesus  alternated  between  feelings 
of  joy  and  grief;  His  soul  was  sometimes  shaken 
to  its  very  profoundest  depths.  Thus,  after  His 
entrance  into  Jerusalem,  it  required  a  struggle  for 
Him  to  regain  His  equanimity  (John  xii.  17).  His 
anguish  in  the  garden  caused  Him  to  sweat  blood ; 
and  on  the  cross  He  gave  vent  to  His  feelings  in  a 
loud  complaint.  Now  this  is  the  same  person,  the 
omniscient,  eternally  holy  and  blessed  Logos  or 
Jesus,  who  thus  alternates  between  self -conscious- 
ness and  unconsciousness,  who  learns  by  degrees, 
who  now  rejoices  in  spirit  (Luke  x.  21),  and  anon 
is  exceedingly  troubled. 

"  Again,  the  Logos,  having  life  in  Himself  even 
as  the  Father,  is  omnipotent,  and  has  shown  His 


Lecture  IV]  Appendix  381 

omnipotence  by  creating  and  governing  the  world; 
but  Jesus,  as  a  real  man  on  earth,  is  not  omnipo- 
tent, but  a  helpless  babe  in  His  mother's  womb  and 
on  her  breast;  when  a  full-grown  man  requires 
food  and  those  things  to  sustain  life  which  are  fur- 
nished by  the  air,  the  earthly  elements,  the  light 
of  the  sun,  etc. ;  in  the  hour  of  His  sorest  trial 
requests  His  disciples  to  pray  with  Him;  works 
even  His  miracles  in  His  Father's  power;  lives  by 
the  Father,  as  the  disciples  live  by  the  glorified  Son ; 
and  is,  finally,  laid  in  the  grave  as  a  helpless 
corpse.  And  yet  this  omnipotent  Logos  and  this 
humanly  dependent  Jesus  are  one  and  the  same 
person."  —  Eeubelt,  Scripture  Doctrine  of  the  Per- 
son of  Christ,  based  upon  the  German  of  W.  F. 
Gess  (Andover,  Draper,  1871),  pp.  318-320. 

"This  testimony  of  Jesus  concerning  His  true 
humanity,  given  by  His  submitting  to  John's  bap- 
tism, is  directly  confirmed  by  God  Himself,  the 
Holy  Ghost  descending  and  abiding  upon  Him 
(Matt.  iii.  16;  John  i.  32).  If  the  incarnate 
Logos  had  not  been  really  and  truly  man,  he  would 
not  have  been  in  need  of  this  unction  with  the 
Spirit  and  power  of  God  (comp.  Acts  x.  38).  It 
was  this  Spirit  poured  out  upon  Him  after  His  bap- 
tism which  showed  Him  the  ways  and  times  of  His 
Messianic  ministry  and  sufferings,  which  led  Him 
after  His  baptism  into  the  wilderness  (Matt.  iv.  1 ; 
Luke  iv.  1),  and  in  whose  power  He  went  from  the 
wilderness  to  Galilee  (iv.  11).  By  His  forty  days' 
fast  in  the  wilderness  also  He  confesses  the  reality 


382  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

of  His  humanity;  for  only  as  a  real  man  did  He 
need  to  count  the  cost  of  the  tower  to  be  built  by 
Him,  preparation  for  victory  over  such  an  enemy 
proceeding  only  from  fasting  and  prayer  (Matt, 
xvii.  21).  Again,  the  temptation  of  Jesus  by  the 
devil  rests  on  the  (abstract)  possibility  of  his  sin- 
ning; if  it  had  been  absolutely  impossible  for  Him 
to  fall  like  other  men,  Satan's  temptation  would 
have  been  an  act  of  folly,  not  worth  recording  by 
the  evangelists.  And  how  could  Matthew  repre- 
sent this  temptation  as  in  keeping  with  the  designs 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  (iv.  1)  if  Jesus  absolutely 
could  not  sin?  For  one  who  cannot  fall,  it  is  mere 
play  to  be  tempted.  Yea,  eveu  the  miracles  of 
Jesus  are  confessions  of  His  dependence ;  for  before 
He  healed  the  deaf-mute.  He  looked  up  to  heaven 
and  sighed  (Mark  vii.  34),  and  at  the  grave  of 
His  friend  Lazarus  He  ascribed  His  miracles  posi- 
tively to  the  efficacy  of  His  prayer  (John  xi.  41, 
etc.). 

"With  this  fully  agrees  His  declaration:  'The 
Father  loveth  the  Son,  aud  showeth  Him  all  things 
that  Himself  doeth '  (John  v.  20) ;  and  again, 
'Neither  has  this  man  sinned,  nor  his  parents,  but 
that  tlie  works  of  God  should  be  made  manifest  in 
him  '  (ix.  3) ;  'Believe  the  works,  that  ye  may  know 
and  believe  that  the  Father  is  in  Me,  and  I  in  Him  ' 
(x.  38);  'The  Father,  that  dwelleth  in  Me,  doeth 
the  works  '  (xiv.  10).  Jesus  was,  then,  not  Himself 
the  source  from  which  His  miraculous  powers  flowed, 
but  He  obtained  them  from  the  Father  in  answer  to 
His  always  accepted  prayer  (comp.  what  Peter  says 


Lecture  IV]  Appendix  383 

in  Acts  X.  38:  'God  was  with  Him,  whereby  He  was 
able  to  do  good  and  heal  all  that  were  oppressed  of 
the  devil ').  —  Ibid.,  pp.  246,  247. 

Note  36.  Page  147.  — (1)  "The  Incarnation  of 
the  Son  of  God  was  no  mere  addition  of  a  manhood 
to  His  Godhead;  it  was  no  mere  wrapping  around 
the  divine  glory  of  a  human  nature  to  veil  it  and 
make  it  tolerable  to  mortal  eyes.  It  was  more  than 
this.  The  Son  of  God,  without  ceasing  to  be  God, 
the  Son  of  the  Father,  and  without  ceasing  to  be 
conscious  of  His  divine  relation  as  Son  to  the 
Father,  yet,  in  assuming  human  nature,  so  truly 
entered  into  it  as  really  to  grow  and  live  as  Son  of 
man  under  properly  human  conditions,  that  is  to 
say,  also  under  properly  human  limitations.  Thus, 
if  we  are  to  express  this  in  human  language,  we 
are  forced  to  assert  that  within  the  sphere  and 
period  of  His  incarnate  and  mortal  life.  He  did, 
and  as  it  would  appear  did  habitually,  —  doubtless 
by  the  voluntary  action  of  His  own  self-limit- 
ing and  self -restraining  love,  —  cease  from  the 
exercise  of  those  divine  functions  and  powers, 
including  the  divine  omniscience,  which  would 
have  been  incompatible  with  a  truly  human 
experience. 

"  (2)  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  incarnate, 
was  and  is,  at  every  moment  and  in  every  act,  both 
God  and  man,  personally  God  made  man ;  He  is  as 
truly  God  at  His  birth  or  death  as  now  in  His 
glory,  and  as  truly  man  now  in  His  glory  as  for- 
merly in  His  human  birth  and  mortal  life,  but  the 


384  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

relation  of  the  Godhead  and  manhood  is  not  the 
same  throughout.  Now  in  His  glory  we  must  con- 
ceive that  the  manhood  subsists  under  conditions 
of  Godhead,  'the  glory  of  God';  but  formerly  dur- 
ing His  mortal  life  and  within  its  sphere,  the 
Godhead  was  energizing  under  conditions  and 
limitations  of  manhood.  The  Son  of  God  really 
became  and  lived  as  Son  of  man."  —  Charles 
Gore,  Dissertations,  pp.  94,  95. 

Note  37.  Page  151.  —  "  Christ  Himself  expresses 
His  transition  from  the  state  of  glory,  which  He  had 
with  the  Father  before  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
into  this  earthly  life,  in  these  words:  'The  Father 
has  sanctified  [set  apart  and  consecrated  to  reveal 
the  divine  life]  and  sent  Me  into  the  world '  (John 
X.  36;  comp.  iii,  16,  etc.);  and  again  thus:  'I  came 
forth  from  the  Father,  and  am  come  into  the  world ' 
(xvi.  28);  'I  have  come  down  from  heaven'  (vi. 
38;  iii.  16).  The  apostles  also  give  prominence 
now  to  the  one  and  now  to  the  other  of  these  points 
of  view.  Thus  John:  'God  has  sent  His  only- 
begotten  Son  into  the  world '  (1  John  iv.  9),  but  in 
another  place:  'The  eternal  life,  which  was  with 
[toward]  the  Father  has  appeared  unto  us  '  (1  John 
i.  1,  etc.),  'The  Logos  became  flesh'  (i.  14),  'Christ 
has  come  in  the  flesh'  (1  John  iv.  2),  and  thus  Paul: 
'God  sent  forth  His  Son,  born  of  a  woman,  in  the 
similitude  of  sinful  flesh  '  (Gal.  iv.  4;  Eom.  viii.  3), 
but  also :  '  God  [who]  was  made  manifest  in  the  flesh' 
(1  Tim.  iii.  16),  'Jesus  Christ  became  poor  for  our 
sakes '  (2  Cor.  viii.  9),  'He  has  divested  Himself, 


Lecture  IV]  Appendix  385 

and  taken  upon  Him  the  form  of  a  servant '  (Phil, 
ii.  7).  His  Incarnation  is  thus  both  His  own  act, 
and  in  compliance  with  the  will  of  His  Father. 
The  two  points  of  view  are  connected  in  Heb.  x. 
5-10,  where  the  Son  is  represented  as  saying  at 
His  advent,  '  Lo  !  I  come  to  do  Thy  will,  0 
God!' 

"The  Scriptures  moreover  inform  us  what  took 
place  in  the  Logos  while  doing  the  will  of  His 
Father.  When  Christ  says,  '  I  came  forth  from 
My  Father,  and  am  come  into  the  world  ' ;  again, 
'I  leave  the  world  and  go  unto  the  Father;  and  if  ye 
loved  Me,  ye  would  rejoice  because  I  said,  I  go  unto 
the  Father'  (John  xvi.  28;  xiv.  28),  He  declares 
that  He  has  abandoned  His  intimate  intercourse 
with  His  Father,  and  His  relation  to  the  Father  has 
undergone  a  change.  And  when  He  says,  'I  am 
come  down  from  heaven'  (John  vi.  38;  iii.  13), 
He  expresses  thereby  the  fact  of  His  having  made 
Himself  loiver.  This  is  both  confirmed  and  more 
fully  developed  by  Christ's  prayer,  'And  now,  0 
Father,  glorify  Me  with  thine  own  self,  with  the 
glory  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world  was ' 
(John  xvii.  5);  here  Christ  declares  as  pointedly 
and  plainly  as  language  can  do  it,  that  at  that  time 
He  no  longer  had  His  ante-mundane  glory,  and  on 
comparing  His  declarations  in  jMark  xiii.  32  and 
John  xi.  41  with  Mark  vii.  31,  there  is  no  longer 
any  doubt  that  the  glory  with  the  Father  which  the 
Son  laid  aside  at  His  Incarnation,  means,  not  only 
His  Divine  form  of  existence,  or  His  blessed  life  in 
light,  but  also  His  omnipotence  and  omniscience. 

2c 


386  ApiJetidix  [Lecture  IV 

"  Of  the  passages  from  the  apostolic  writings  let 
us  consider  in  the  first  place  John  i.  14:  'The 
Logos  became  flesh.'  If  every  kind  of  becoming  is 
excluded  in  the  Logos,  John  certainly  chose  a  very 
awkward  expression.  Why  did  he  not  rather  say : 
He  took  upon  Himself  flesh  and  blood?  John  cer- 
tainly knew  what  he  was  about  when  he  expressed 
this  central  point  of  his  faith,  and  thought  he  made 
no  blunder  in  the  selection  of  his  terms.  He  wished 
to  say  that  the  Logos  in  His  Licarnation  did  not 
remain  as  He  had  been  before,  but  that  with  His 
assumption  of  human  nature  there  was  a  change, 
introducing  'days  of  the  flesh,'  i.e.  day  of  need, 
weakness,  and  the  possibility  of  suffering  (comp. 
Heb.  V.  7 ;  2  Cor.  xiii.  4).  This  agrees  with  Christ's 
own  words,  that  His  coming  from  heaven  was  a 
coming  down,  a  going  forth  from  the  Father,  or 
from  that  intimate  life-union  with  Him  which  He 
had  sustained  from  all  eternity."  —  Reubelt, 
Scripture  Doctrine  of  the  Person  of  Christ,  pp. 
329-331. 

"Eternity  must  not  be  conceived  of  as  excluding 
all  change.  It  is  only  an  arbitrary  and  poor  phi- 
losophy that  seeks  eternity  by  a  flight  from  time. 
The  eternity  of  the  Father  is  conditioned  by  His 
aseity,  that  of  the  Son  and  Holy  Ghost  by  the 
freedom  of  their  life,  Avhich  streams  from  out  of 
the  Father  and  is  yet  identical  with  that  of  the 
Father.  The  Son  divests  Himself  of  His  Divine 
life,  of  His  breathing  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  His 
government  of  the  world,  not  because  He  is  invol- 


Lectuke  IV]  Appendix  387 

untarily  drawn  into  subjection  to  time,  but  because 
He  freely  loves  sinners.  And  after  He  lias  accom- 
plished His  work  of  love  for  us,  He  regains  that  of 
which  He  divested  Himself.  This  His  free  entrance 
into  time,  in  order  to  return  again  into  eternity,  is 
therefore  a  triumph  of  eternity  over  time,  an  exhi- 
bition of  the  Eternal  as  the  king  of  time,  which 
must  serve  Him  even  while  He  enters  into  its  ser- 
vice, and  which  cannot  retain  Him  after  He  has 
accomplished  His  work.  To  dispose,  as  a  king,  of 
time,  so  that  it  does  not  sustain  to  the  super-tem- 
poral the  relation  of  an  unapproachable  something, 
but  is  serviceable  to  it  as  a  form,  —  this  is  God's 
highest  revelation  of  His  superiority  to  time."  — 
Ihkl.,  p.  430. 

Note  38.  Page  159.  —  "  The  truth  that  man  was 
'made  in  the  image  of  God'  admits  of  two  distinct 
developments.  It  may  be  viewed  (a)  in  regard  to 
the  individual,  or  {h)  in  regard  to  the  race.  In 
both  respects  man  was  created  to  gain  a  Divine 
ideal.  It  is  true  indeed  that  neither  the  race  nor 
the  individual  can  be  properly  considered  apart; 
each  is  dependent  upon  the  other  for  the  attain- 
ment of  its  perfection.  But  much  is  gained  both 
in  clearness  and  fulness  of  view  by  considering 
them  separately. 

"(a)  It  is  Avholly  unnecessary  to  inquire  in 
what  exact  sense  man  was  'made  in  the  image  of 
God.'  We  have  no  faculties  for  the  investigation. 
There  is,  however,  no  authority  for  limiting  the 
image  to  any  particular  part  of  his  nature.      For 


388  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

us  the  individual  man  in  liis  complex  being  is  one ; 
and  as  man  he  was  made  in  God's  image  to  gain 
His  likeness. 

"In  this  work  he  had  constant  need  of  Divine 
help.  As  he  was  made  he  was  not  at  once  capable 
of  union  with  God.  To  reach  this  consummation 
he  required  discipline  and  training.  In  the  Divine 
order  men  are  'first  made  men  and  then  afterwards 
gods.' 

"  If  then  man  had  fulfilled  the  law  of  his  being, 
he  would  still,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  have  stood  in 
need  of  a  Mediator  through  whom  the  relation  of 
fellowship  with  God  might  have  been  sustained, 
and  deepened,  and  perfected.  Nor  is  it  easy  to 
suppose  that  this  fellowship  could  have  been  made 
stable  and  permanent  in  any  other  way  than  by  the 
union  in  due  time  of  man  with  God,  accomplished 
by  the  union  of  man  with  Him  who  was  the  Medi- 
ator between  God  and  man,  and  in  whose  image 
man  was  made. 

"  Irenseus  has  given  a  striking  expression  to  this 
truth.  He  starts  indeed  from  the  consideration  of 
man  as  fallen,  but  his  argument  passes  into  an 
absolute  form.  Speaking  of  the  necessity  of  the 
Incarnation,  he  says:  'If  man  had  not  conquered 
the  adversary  of  man,  the  enemy  would  not  have 
been  justly  conquered.  And  again,  if  God  had 
not  bestowed  salvation,  we  should  not  have  pos- 
sessed it  surely.  And  if  man  had  not  been  united 
to  God,  he  could  not  have  partaken  of  incorrup- 
tion.  For  it  was  necessary  that  the  Mediator  of 
God  and  men  by  His  own  essential  relationship 


Lecture  IV]  Appendix  389 

with  both  should  bring  together  into  friendship 
and  concord,  and  on  the  one  hand  present  man 
to  God  and  on  the  other  make  God  known  to 
man. ' 

"  Moreover,  if  we  regard  the  predestined  human- 
ity of  the  Son  of  God  as  the  archetype  of  humanity, 
light  is  thrown  upon  the  doctrine  of  the  Atone- 
ment. It  becomes  in  this  case  in  some  degree 
intelligible  how  Christ  could  fitly  (if  we  may  so 
speak)  take  man's  nature  upon  Him,  and  suffer  for 
man,  inasmuch  as  He  took  upon  Himself  a  nature 
which  was  not  alien  in  its  idea,  but  one  which 
in  some  mysterious  sense  was  in  its  propriety 
partially  an  image  of  His  own,  though  it  had 
fallen. 

"  So  far,  then,  the  essential  constitution  of  man 
suggests  at  least  the  belief  that  the  Incarnation, 
by  which  we  understand  in  this  case  the  taking  of 
sinless  and  perfected  humanity  into  God,  was  part 
of  the  Divine  counsel  in  creation. 

"(&)  These  considerations  which  apply  to  the 
individual  man  obtain  greater  weight  if  they  are 
extended  to  the  race.  We  cannot  but  believe  that 
under  any  circumstances,  and  wholly  apart  from 
the  Fall,  there  would  have  been  a  progress  in  the 
race,  as  well  as  in  the  individual,  towards  the 
gradual  fulfilment  of  the  idea  of  humanity.  All 
that  was  potentially  included  in  man  in  his  various 
relations  to  being  would  have  been  realized  in  many 
parts.  In  this  Avay  the  whole  conception  of  human- 
ity would  have  been  broken  up  and  distributed,  so 
to  speak,  through  countless  personalities.     There 


390  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

would  then  have  been  need  of  some  power  by  which 
at  last  all  the  scattered  elements  of  manhood  should 
be  brought  together  into  a  personal  unity.  In 
other  words,  the  endeavour  to  follow  out  the  normal 
development  of  the  human  race  leads  us  to  look  for 
that  which  answers  to  the  Incarnation,  by  which 
the  completed  body  might  be  brought  into  a  final 
unity  in  fellowship  with  God. 

"For  Christ,  as  we  are  taught,  supplies  that 
which  gives  a  common  life  to  all  the  members. 
He  is  the  Head  of  the  Body.  All  the  differences 
of  men,  so  far  as  they  correspond  with  a  true 
growth,  are  reconciled  in  Him,  and  shown  to  be 
contributory  to  the  manifestation  of  His  perfec- 
tion. 

"  In  this  respect  the  argument  which  was  drawn 
from  Eph.  v.  31  ff.,  by  several  early  writers,  de- 
serves more  consideration  than  we  are  at  first 
inclined  to  give  to  it.  The  main  idea  in  the  pas- 
sage seems  to  be  that  the  Church,  the  representa- 
tive of  perfected  humanity,  of  that  which  the  race 
would  in  the  end  have  been  if  sin  had  not  inter- 
vened, is  related  to  a  Head,  just  as  in  the  typical 
record  of  Creation  woman  is  related  to  man.  The 
Church  and  woman  are  severally  regarded  as  de- 
rived, and  yet  belonging  to,  the  completeness  of 
that  from  which  they  are  derived,  and  so  destined 
finally  to  be  restored  to  perfect  fellowship  with  it. 
Man  ideally  is  not  man  only,  but  man  and  woman; 
Christ,  such  appears  to  be  the  thought,  however  un- 
familiar it  may  be  to  us,  unites  with  the  Godhead 
the  ideal  of  perfected  humanity,  and  that  not  acci- 


Lecture  IV]  Appendix  391 

dentally  but  essentially.  Tlie  personal  relation  of 
sex  regarded,  in  typical  individuals,  represents,  as 
we  should  express  the  view,  beyond  itself  a  cor- 
porate relation  which  exists  in  respect  to  the  race. 
Just  as  the  individual  union  is  necessary  for  the 
fulfilment  of  the  idea  of  woman,  so  the  corporate 
union  is  necessary  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  idea  of 
humanity.  Christ  is  the  true  Adam :  tlie  Church 
is  the  true  Eve.  And  both  these  relations,  the 
individual  relation  and  the  corporate  relation,  are 
independent  of  the  Fall.  The  Fall  has  disturbed 
and  disordered  each,  but  it  was  not  the  occasion 
for  the  first  existence  of  either.   .   .   . 

"So  far  we  have  regarded  man  only,  the  indi- 
vidual and  the  race.  We  venture  to  go  yet  fur- 
ther, and  to  look  upon  man  as  the  representative 
of  Creation.  This  thought  appears  to  be  dis- 
tinctly suggested  in  the  records  of  the  Creation, 
and  of  the  Fall,  and  of  the  new  Creation.  The 
dominion  of  man  (Gen.  i.  2<S)  was  such  that  his 
realm  shared  the  consequences  of  his  sin  (Gen. 
iii.  17).  His  destiny  therefore  has  not  yet  been 
accomplished  (Ps.  viii. ;  Heb.  ii.  5  ff.).  But  in  its 
promised  fulfilment  lies  the  hope  of  the  material 
world.  For  that  something  is  in  store  which 
answers  to  the  redemption  of  man's  body  (Rom. 
viii.  22  ff.). 

"It  will  at  once  be  obvious  how  this  wider  view 
of  the  relations  of  man  to  Creation  tends  to  con- 
firm what  has  been  already  said  of  the  inherent 
fitness  of  the  Incarnation  in  relation  to  the  plan  of 
Creation,  as  we  are  enabled  to  look  upon  it.     In 


392  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

all  parts  of  the  natural  order,  and  not  in  humanity 
only,  in  the  very  course  of  progress,  there  is  con- 
stant division,  dispersion,  differentiation,  of  ele- 
ments ;  and  at  the  same  time  clearer  glimpses  are 
opened  of  a  unity  to  which  all  the  parts  appear  to 
tend.  This  separation,  this  unity,  as  far  as  we  can 
see,  belong  alike  to  the  essence  of  things.  The 
separation  has  been,  it  is  true,  influenced  by  the 
Fall,  but,  as  a  condition  of  growth,  it  is  not  due  to 
it.  The  idea  of  the  Incarnation  therefore  satisfies 
the  aspiration  towards  the  vaster  unity  to  which 
the  full  development  of  Creation  points.  The 
restoration  of  unity  to  man  carries  with  it  the 
promise  of  the  restoration  of  unity  to  all  finite 
being."  —  Westcott,  Commentary  on  the  Epistles  of 
John,  essay  on  "The  Gospel  of  Creation,"  pp. 
306-310. 

Note  39.  Page  161.  —  " For  wherein  fought  He? 
In  that  He  took  man's  nature  upon  Him.  Take 
away  His  birth  of  a  virgin,  take  away  that  He 
emptied  Himself,  'taking  the  form  of  a  servant, 
being  made  in  the  likeness  of  men,  and  found  in 
fashion  as  a  man ' ;  take  away  this,  and  where  is 
the  combat?  where  the  contest?  where  the  trial? 
where  the  victory,  which  no  battle  has  preceded? 
'In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word 
was  with  God,  and  tlie  AVord  was  God.  All  things 
were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was  nothing 
made.'  Could  the  Jews  have  crucified  this  Word? 
Could  those  impious  men  have  mocked  this  Word? 
Could  this  Word  have  been  buffeted?     Could  this 


Lecture  IV]  Aj^pendix  393 

Word  liave  been  crowned  with  thorns?  But  that 
He  might  suffer  all  this,  'the  Word  was  made 
flesh  ' ;  and  after  He  had  suffered  all  this,  by  rising 
again  He  'overcame.'"  —  St.  Augustine,  Nicene 
Fathers,  Vol.  VI.,  "Sermons  on  New  Testament 
Lessons,"  XLVIII.,  p.  412. 

Note  40.  Page  163. — "Theology  has  no  falser 
idea  than  that  of  the  impassibility  of  God.  If  He 
is  capable  of  sorrow,  He  is  capable  of  suffering; 
and  were  He  without  the  capacit}^  for  either.  He 
would  be  without  any  feeling  of  the  evil  of  sin  or 
the  misery  of  man.  The  very  truth  that  came  by 
Jesus  Christ  may  be  said  to  be  summed  up  in  the 
passibility  of  God. 

"To  confine  the  idea  of  sacrifice  to  the  Son  is 
to  be  unjust  to  His  representation  of  the  Father. 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  the  Patripassian  theory 
is  right;  the  Father  did  suffer,  though  it  was  not 
as  the  Son  that  He  suffered,  but  in  modes  distinct 
and  different.  The  being  of  evil  in  the  universe 
was  to  His  moral  nature  an  offence  and  a  pain,  and 
through  His  pity  the  misery  of  man  became  His 
sorrow.  But  this  sense  of  man's  evil  and  misery 
became  the  impulse  to  speak  and  to  help ;  and  what 
did  this  mean  but  the  disclosure  of  His  suffering 
by  the  surrender  of  the  Son?  But  this  surrender, 
as  it  Avas  the  act,  represented  the  sacrifice  and  the 
passion  of  the  whole  Godhead.  Here  degree  and 
proportion  are  out  of  place ;  were  it  not,  we  might 
say  the  Father  suffered  more  in  giving  tlian  the 
Son  in  being  given.     He  who  gave  to  duty  had  not 


394  Appendix  [Lecture  IV 

the  reward  of  Him  who  rejoiced  to  do  it.  Though 
we  speak  but  iu  the  limited  language  of  our  own 
conditions,  yet,  may  we  not  ask,  must  not  the  act 
by  which  the  Son  emptied  Himself  have  affected 
and,  as  it  were,  impoverished  the  Godhead?  The 
two  things  are  coincident  and  inseparable;  here, 
pre-eminently,  one  member  could  not  suffer  with- 
out all  suffering.  The  humiliation  of  the  Son 
involved  the  visible  passion  and  death,  but  the 
surrender  by  the  Father  involved  the  sorrow  that 
was  the  invisible  sacrifice. 

"And  this  is  the  Biblical  doctrine :  'God  so  loved 
the  world  that  He  gave  His  only-begotten  Son'; 
'He  spared  not  His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him 
up  for  us  all';  'herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved 
God,  but  that  He  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins.'  But  what  do  these 
verses  mean,  if  not  that  the  essence  and  act  of 
sacrifice  was  the  surrender  of  the  Son  by  the 
Father?  It  was  the  measure  alike  of  His  love  to 
man  and  the  suffering  He  endured  to  save.  And  so 
we  may  say,  without  the  Fatherhood  there  could 
be  no  Atoner  and  no  Atonement;  but  with  the 
Fatherhood  the  Atoner  and  the  Atonement  could 
not  but  be.  By  their  means  He,  as  it  were,  invited 
man  to  come  and  see  sin  as  He  saw  it,  and  judge 
its  evil  by  beholding  through  the  eternal  Son  the 
suffering  it  cost  the  eternal  Father."  —  Fairbairx, 
The  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  Theology,  pp.  483- 
485. 


Lecture  V]  Appendix  396 


LECTURE  V 

Note  41.  Page  175.  —  "  I  cannot  but  agree  with 
those  who  think  that  the  Kingdom  of  God,  in 
Christ's  view,  is  a  present,  developing  reality. 
This  is  implied  in  the  parables  of  growth  (mustard 
seed^  leaven,  seed  growing  secretly);  in  the  repre- 
sentations of  it,  in  its  earthly  form,  as  a  mixture  of 
good  and  bad  (wheat  and  tares,  the  net  of  fishes) ; 
in  the  description  of  the  righteousness  of  the  king- 
dom (Sermon  on  the  Mount),  which  is  to  be  realized 
in  the  ordinary  human  relations;  as  well  as  in 
many  special  sayings.  I  do  not  see  how  any  one 
can  read  these  passages  and  doubt  that  in  Christ's 
view  the  kingdom  was  a  presently  existing,  slowly 
developing  reality,  originating  in  His  word,  contain- 
ing mixed  elements,  and  bound  in  its  development 
to  a  definite  law  of  rhythm  ('first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,'  etc.).  On  the  other  hand,  the  idea  has 
an  eschatological  reference.  The  kingdom  is  not 
something  which  humanity  produces  by  its  own 
efforts,  but  something  which  comes  to  it  from 
above.  It  is  the  entrance  into  humanity  of  a  new 
life  from  heaven.  In  its  origin,  its  powers,  its 
blessings,  its  aims,  its  end,  it  is  supernatural  and 
heavenly.  Hence  it  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
two  stadia  are  distinguished  in  its  existence, —  an 
earthly  and  an  eternal;  the  latter  being  the  aspect 
that  chiefly  prevails  in  the  Epistles."  —  James 
Okk,  The  Christian  Vieiu  of  God  and  the  World, 
pp.  405,  406. 


396  Appendix  [Lectuke  v 

Note  42.     Page  181 »  —  "But  we  are  met  on  the 

threshold  by  a  modern  objection  to  this  provisional 
conception  of  the  matter.  Is  doctrine,  even  in  this 
sense,  really  the  essential  content  of  the  Bible? 
Is  not  its  content,  above  all,  fact  and  history?  As 
for  Christianity  in  particular,  is  it  not  a  life  in 
God  mediated  through  Jesus  Christ,  rather  than 
a  doctrine  of  divine  things?  The  friends  of  Bibli- 
cal theology  have  no  wish  to  deny  the  truth  which 
underlies  these  statements ;  but  it  is  a  half  truth, 
and  therefore  liable  to  be  misunderstood.  To  say 
nothing  of  the  apostles,  who,  at  any  rate,  taught 
something  concerning  Christ,  or  of  Paul,  who  was 
certainly  one  of  the  greatest  teachers  in  the  world's 
history,  the  statement  that  'Jesus  Christ  brought 
no  new  doctrine,  but  presented  in  His  person  a 
holy  life  with  God  and  before  God,  and  in  the 
strength  which  He  drew  from  that  spiritual  life 
He  devoted  Himself  to  the  service  of  His  brethren 
in  order  to  win  them  for  the  kingdom  of  God,'  is, 
with  all  the  truth  which  it  contains,  one  of  those 
misleading  statements  that  oppose  things  which 
are  not  mutually  exclusive.  No  one  can  deny  that 
Jesus  was  known  by  His  contemporaries  as  a 
'Master,'  that  is,  as  a  Teacher.  His  preaching 
was  hailed  as  a  new  doctrine  (Mark  i.  27),  and  He 
Himself  was  conscious  that  it  was  His  special 
mission  to  convey  a  knowledge  of  God  which  was 
unheard  of  before  Him,  and  which  could  not  be 
obtained  without  Him  (Matt.  xi.  27).  Certainly 
this  knowledge  is  only  the  abstract  side  of  the  life 
in  God  which  He  unfolds  in  order  to  communicate  ^ 


Lecture  V]  Appendix  397 

but  this  new  life  is  anything  but  an  unconscious 
one ;  nor  is  it  imparted  by  magic,  but  clothes  itself 
in  idea,  word,  and  x^reaching,  and  thus  becomes 
essentially  and  necessarily  a  new  doctrine  of  divine 
things.  Xor  is  it  otherwise  with  the  content  of 
Holy  Scripture  as  a  whole.  No  doubt  that  content 
is  above  all  things  testimon}^,  the  attestation  of 
facts  of  divine  revelation;  but  in  the  testimony 
there  is  thought,  in  the  fact  there  is  idea.  What 
God  reveals  of  Himself  is  truth  to  be  thought  about 
and  to  be  proclaimed ;  that  is,  of  course,  doctrine, 
or  doctrinal  content."  —  Dr.  Willie ald  Bey- 
SCHLAG,  Neio  Testament  Theology  (T.  &  T.  Clark, 
1895),  Vol.  I.,  pp.  2,  3. 

Note  43.  Page  183.  —  "  Preaching  being  the  char- 
acteristic feature  of  the  life  of  Christ,  no  true 
understanding  of  His  mission  can  be  had  without 
a  knowledge  of  what  He  preached  as  the  truth  of 
God.  The  Gospels  which  give  us  the  record  of 
His  life  contain  also  a  Gospel  which  He  preached ; 
and  this  Gospel  comprises  not  only  the  rules  of 
practical  morality,  the  lessons  and  precepts  of 
humanity  and  religion,  but  the  Doctrines  of  a 
Positive  Theology.  It  is  sometimes  alleged  that 
Christ  taught  personally  none  of  those  doctrines 
which  are  commonly  set  forth  by  the  Church  in 
her  creeds  as  distinctive  of  the  Christian  faith, 
but  directed  His  teachings  to  practical  life,  incul- 
cating the  virtues,  graces,  and  charities  that  would 
reform,  adorn,  and  bless  society,  and  elevate  man- 
kind; that  the  doctrines  of  regeneration  and  atone- 


398  Appendix  [Lecture  V 

ment,  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  personality 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  were  woven  out  of  His  sayings 
by  speculative  minds  among  His  followers,  after 
Jesus  had  finished  His  personal  testimony  of  truth 
and  goodness ;  that  such  doctrines  owe  more  to  St. 
Paul  and  St.  Augustine  than  to  Christ,  and  belong 
not  to  the  original  substance  of  the  Gospel,  but  to 
a  philosophical  theology  that  has  grown  up  around 
it.  This  notion  is  somewhat  favoured  by  a  common 
method  of  teaching  theology  —  stating  doctrines  in 
technical  terms  and  with  scientific  nicety,  tracing 
their  development  in  the  history  of  the  Church  and 
of  schools  of  philosophy,  and  finally  authenticating 
them  by  citations  from  the  Scriptures  used  mainly 
as  proof-texts.  For  this  purpose  the  writings  of 
Paul,  as  the  logical  expounder  of  the  Christian 
faith,  are  drawn  upon  more  largely  than  other 
portions  of  the  New  Testament  —  the  Pauline  con- 
ception being  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  Christian 
dogmatics,  and  the  words  of  Jesus  being  used  to 
verify  the  statement  of  His  doctrines  in  the  form 
of  theological  propositions.  To  reverse  this  method 
is  to  derive  the  Christian  Theology  primarily  and 
directly  from  the  words  of  Christ  —  a  process  in 
which  we  have  to  do  not  with  the  creeds  of  the 
Church  nor  the  formulas  of  the  theologians,  but 
simply  with  the  principles  of  interpretation.  So 
far  as  the  very  words  of  Christ  have  been  pre- 
served, these  form  the  essence  of  Christianity,  just 
as  the  original  sayings  of  Socrates  as  preserved  by 
his  disciples  are  the  substance  of  the  Socratic  wis- 
dom.    To  the  first  preacher  of  Christianity  must 


Lecture  V]  Appendix  399 

we  look  for  the  freshest,  truest,  best  conception  of 
the  system.  In  His  words  we  find  a  proper  the- 
ology,—  not  formulated,  indeed,  nor  systematized, 
yet  expressed  in  doctrines  to  be  severally  believed, 
—  doctrines  set  forth  with  a  certain  gradation  of 
time  and  thouglit,  or  in  a  certain  order  of  develop- 
ment, and  these  doctrines  interwoven  with  the 
whole  texture  of  the  precepts  and  promises  of  the 
Gos]3el."  —  Joseph  P.  Thompsox,  The  Theology  of 
Christ  from  His  Own  Words  (Xew  York,  Scrib- 
ners,  1871),  pp.  2,  3. 

Note  44.  Page  185.  — "His  teaching,  therefore, 
from  the  very  first,  has  for  its  background  a  unique 
self -consciousness,  the  incomparable  significance  of 
His  person,  and  from  the  beginning  was  directed 
towards  something  that  must  be  more  than  teach- 
ing, that  must  be  work  and  deed,  viz.  the  founding 
of  God's  kingdom.  And  this  founding  was  finally 
accomplished,  not  by  His  teaching  as  such,  but  by 
His  personal  devotion  to  and  completion  of  His 
life-work,  by  His  death  and  resurrection.  Does 
His  teaching  thereby  lose  its  original  fundamental 
significance,  and  sink  down  to  a  mere  introduction 
to  New  Testament  revelation?  It  must  be  said 
that  little  as  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  itself,  apart 
from  the  conclusion  of  His  life,  could  have  called 
into  existence  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  little  could 
that  ending  of  His  life  have  called  it  into  being 
without  the  foregoing  doctrinal  revelation.  This 
doctrinal  revelation  first  induced  that  end  to  His 
life,  and  gave  it  meaning;   and  it  alone  collected 


400  Appendix  [Lecture  V 

that  community  of  disciples  who  were  able  to  grasp 
and  propagate  that  meaning.  And  therefore  His 
doctrine  is  not  indeed  His  life-work  itself,  but  the 
ideal  reflection  of  it,  the  evidence  of  what  He 
wished,  what  He  was  conscious  of  being  and  doing. 
His  teaching,  therefore,  is  that  in  His  appearance 
and  active  life  which  is  necessary  to  make  that 
life  intelligible  to  us,  and  without  Avhich  the  apos- 
tolic teaching  about  Him  would  only  be  a  sum  of 
dogmatic  utterances  which  we  could  not  compre- 
hend, and  whose  truth  v\^e  could  not  prove,  — a 
result  not  a  little  awkward  for  that  view  wliich 
contrasts  the  'teaching  of  Jesus  '  as  Christianity 
proper  with  the  apostolic  'teaching  about  Christ.'  " 
—  Beyschlag,  New  Testament  Theology,  Vol.  I., 
pp.  28,  29. 

"Hat  sich  in  der  Erscheinung  Jesu  die  voile 
Gottesoffenbarung  vollzogen,  so  muss  dieselbe  sich 
auch  als  solche  der  Welt  verstandlich  gemacht 
haben.  Es  liegt  im  Wesen  der  Offenbarung,  dass 
dieselbe  nicht  nur  in  gewissen  Thatsachen  bestehen 
kann,  sondern  dass  sie  zugleich  die  wesentlich 
richtige  Auffassung  von  der  Bedeutung  dieser 
Thatsachen  von  vornherein  sicher  stellen  muss, 
und  dieses  kann  bei  der  in  Christo  erscheinenen 
Gottesoffenbarung  nur  durch  das  seine  Erscheinung 
begleitende  Selbstzeugniss  Jesu  (im  weitesten 
Umfange)  geschehen  sein.  Auf  diesem  Selbst- 
zeugniss Jesu  ruht  aber  selbstverstjindlich  und 
geschichtlich  die  Auffassung  seiner  Erscheinung 
in  der   altersten  N.  T.  lichen  Verkiindisrung:.  .   .   . 


Lecture  V]  Aj^pendix  401 

Die  Lehre  Jesu  war  vielmelir  ilirem  wesentlichen 
Kern  nacli  selbst  iiiclits  anderes  als  eine  Lelire  von 
der  Bedeutuug  seiner  Person  u>id  seiner  Erscliei- 
nung  und  musste  in  dieser  Beziehung  grundlegend 
sein  fiir  die  urspriinglichen  Vorstellungen  der  N.  T.- 
liclien  Schriftsteller  von  derselben.  Jenielir  man 
die  Lehre  Jesu  in  dieser  ilirer  gescliichtliclien 
Bedeutung  and  damit  in  ihrem  eigentliclien  Offen- 
barungscharakter  auffasst,  um  so  einfaclier  erledigt 
sich  die  Frage  nach  dem  Verliiiltniss  der  Biblisclien 
Theologie  zu  den  Thatsaclien  des  Lebens  Jesu. 
Soweit  die  Lehre  Jesu  nemlich  auf  diese  That- 
sachen  zuriickweist,  um  ihre  wahre  Bedeutung 
erkennen  zu  hissen,  oder  soweit  sie  dieselben  zu 
ihrem  Verstiindniss  voraussetzt,  werden  sie  auch  fur 
die  Biblische  Theologie  in  Betracht  kommen  und 
derselben  durcli  die  Ueberlieferung,  aus  welcher  sie 
die  Lehre  Jesu  schopft,  dargeboten  sein.  Immer 
aber  wird  nur  die  Lehre  Jesu  den  Ausgangspunkt 
fiir  sie  bilden,  weil  in  ihr  die  Auftassung  der 
iiltesten  Yerkiindiger  des  Evangeliums  von  der 
Bedeutung  Jesu  und  seiner  Erscheinung  wurzelt 
und  damit  die  Grundlage  fiir  das  A'erstandniss  ihrer 
religiosen  Vorstellungen  und  Lehren  gegebcn  ist." 
—  Bernhard  Weiss,  Lehrbuchder  Biblischen  Theo- 
logie des  Neuen  Testaments  (2te  Aullage,  Berlin, 
1873),  pp.  33,  34. 

Note  45.  Page  200.  —  "The  philosophers  and 
religionists  of  old  saw  truth,  but  they  saw  it  in 
detached  forms  and  not  as  a  system;  they  also 
failed  to  connect  it  with  a  personal,  divine  source, 

2d 


402  Appendix  [Lecture  V 

and  hence  had  no  ground  of  inspiration  and  no 
sufficient  motive  to  duty.  In  other  phrase,  they 
were  without  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Compare,  for  example,  Abraham  and  Zeno;  the 
latter  had  an  immeasurably  wider  culture  and 
range  of  thought,  but  he  could  not  elaborate  a 
vital  system.  Abraham,  on  the  contrary,  with  his 
one  idea  of  a  spiritual,  personal  God,  and  his  one 
principle  of  obedient  trust,  inaugurated  an  order 
that  instantly  became  vital  and  endures  still  as 
eternal  truth.  He  did  not  look  as  widely,  perhaps 
not  as  directly,  at  life,  as  the  Stoic,  but  he  looked 
in  truer  directions.  No  truth,  unless  it  happens 
to  be  an  all-embracing  truth,  and  no  number  of 
truths,  however  clearly  seen,  have  any  inspiring  or 
redeeming  power  until  they  are  grounded  in  an 
eternal  Person.  Mozley,  in  one  of  his  sermons, 
asks,  'Have  we  not,  in  our  moral  nature,  a  great 
deal  to  do  with  fragments?^  Yes,  and  it  is  the 
weakness  of  human  nature  when  it  undertakes  to 
teach  moral  truth  that  it  has  only  fragments  to 
deal  with.  It  is  because  Christ  did  not  see  truth 
in  a  fragmentary  way,  and  because  there  was  in 
Himself  nothing  fragmentary,  that  He  teaches  with 
power.  There  is  no  capability  in  man  of  resisting 
perfect  truth;  when  it  is  seen,  it  conquers.  The 
main  thing,  therefore,  is  to  see,  but  men  love  dark- 
ness, and  even  Avhen  they  begin  to  see,  it  is  in  a 
half-blind  way."  —  T.  T.  Muxc^er,  The  Freedom  of 
Faith  (Houghton,  Mifflin,  &  Co.,  New  York,  1884), 
pp.  163,  164. 


Lecture  VI]  Apj^endix  403 


LECTUKE   VI 

Note  46.  Page  213.  —"Si  Ton  demandait  a  im 
lecteur  d'intelligence  nioyenne,  qui  aurait  lu  les 
dix-huit  volumes  de  I'histoire  naturelle  et  sociale 
d'une  famille  sous  le  second  Empire,  ce  qu'il  i:)ense 
de  cette  fameuse  tlieorie  de  I'heredite,  il  serait  cer- 
tainement  dans  un  grand  embarras :  'J'ai  vu,  nous 
dirait-il,  une  vingtaine  de  personages  qui  ne  se 
ressemblent  en  rien,  entre  lesquels  on  m'affirme 
qu'il  J  a  un  fil  commun  que  je  n'apergois  pas;  dont 
les  uns  sont  honnetes,  les  autres  interesses,  celui-ci 
criminel,  celui-la  ivrogne,  par  suite  d'une  meme 
nevrose  originelle.  En  somme,  cette  famille  m'in- 
teresse  fort,  parce  qu'elle  reproduit  en  diminutif 
I'image  du  monde,  infiniment  diversifie ;  mais  je  ne 
parviens  pas  a  me  faire  une  idee  a  pen  pres  claire 
de  ce  qu'elle  est  en  tant  que  famille ;  et  je  ne  vois 
pas  beaucoup  plus  de  rapports  entre  ses  divers  niem- 
bres  et  les  premiers  Eougon-^Iacquart  qu'on  ni'a 
presentes  qu'entre  vous,  moi,  quelques  autres  et  nos 
premiers  parents,  Adam  et  Eve.'  Mais  peut-etre 
bien  que  si  I'on  poussait  notre  liomme  a  la  reflexion, 
on  en  tirerait  autre  chose;  peut-etre  que,  en  pro- 
cedant  selon  la  methode  socratique,  de  question  en 
question,  on  I'amenerait  a  dire:  ^Ah!  je  vois  encore 
ceci,  par  exemple  !  C'est  que  tons  ces  gens  sont  ce 
qu'ils  sont  de  par  une  force  etrangere,  sur  laquelle 
ils  ne  peuvent  rien,  qui  les  gouverne  et  les  dirige. 
lis  sont  de  simples  marionnettes :  je  vois  leurs 
mouvements,   et  je    sais    que   ces    mouvements   ne 


404  Appendix  [Lecture  VI 

dependent  pas  d'eux,  mais  de  la  ficelle  qui  les  agite 
et  de  la  main  qui  tient  la  ficelle.  Et  je  n'aperqois 
pas  la  ficelle,  et  je  n'apercois  pas  la  main.  lis 
ne  sont  pas  libres,  j'en  suis  sur;  de  quel  tyran  de- 
pendent-ils  ?  Je  n'en  sais  rien.'  Et  notre  homme 
aurait  resume,  au  point  de  vue  qui  nous  occupe,  tout 
ce  qu'on  peat  dire  de  I'oeuvre  de  M.  Zola :  elle  n'est 
pas  scientifique  et  ne  nous  apporte  aucun  renseigne- 
ment  sur  la  doctrine  de  I'heredite;  mais  elle  est 
litteraire  et  fait  penetrer  en  nous  les  consequences 
de  cette  doctrine,  qui  sont  la  negation  radicale  de  la 
liberte  et  de  la  responsabilite  humaine.  En  sorte 
que  M.  Zola  a  detruit  des  croyances  positives  qui 
n'etaient  peut-etre  que  des  prejuges,  mais  n'a  au- 
cunement  justifie,  ni  explique,  ni  prouve  les  croy- 
ances negatives  qu'il  s'applique  a  leur  substituer. 
Le  christianisme  qu'il  repousse,  et  la  science  qu'il 
prend  pour  religion  ont  entre  eux  ce  point  de  res- 
semblance,  que  leur  base  est  egalement  incertaine, 
en  dehors  de  I'observation.  Pour  croire  a  I'heredite 
de  la  famille  Rougon-Macquart,  il  faudrait  un  acte 
de  foi  pour  le  moins  egal  a  celui  qu'exigent  les 
dogmes  de  la  Trinite  on  de  I'lmmaculee-Concep- 
tion;  et,  apres  I'avoir  accompli,  on  serait  peut-etre 
moins  avance,"  —  Edouard  Eod,  Idees  Morales  du 
Temps  Present,  pp.  80-82. 

Note  47.  Page  214.  —  "Heredity  is  liis  hobby- 
horse, which  he  mounts  in  every  one  of  his  pieces. 
There  is  not  a  single  trait  in  his  personages,  a 
single  peculiarity  of  character,  a  single  disease,  that 
he  does  not  trace  to  heredity.     In  A  DolVs  House, 


Lecture  VI]  Alipendix  405 

Dr.  Rank's  'poor  innocent  spine  must  do  penance 
for  "liis"  father's  notions  of  amusement  when  he 
was  a  lieutenant  in  the  army.'  .  .  .  Helmer  ex- 
plains to  Nora  that  'a  misty  atmosphere  of  lying 
brings  contagion  into  the  whole  family.  Every 
breath  the  children  draw  contains  some  germ  of 
evil.  Nearly  all  men  who  go  to  ruin  early  have  had 
untruthful  mothers.  ...  In  most  cases  it  comes 
from  the  mother ;  but  the  father  naturally  works  in 
the  same  direction. '  And  again :  'Your  father's  low 
principles  you  have  inherited,  every  one  of  them. 
No  religion,  no  morality,  no  sense  of  duty.'  In 
Ghosts,  Oswald  has  learned  from  the  extraordinary 
doctor  in  Paris  who  told  him  he  had  softening  of 
the  brain,  that  he  had  inherited  his  malady  from 
his  father.  Regina,  the  natural  daughter  of  the 
late  Alving,  exactly  resembles  her  mother.   .   .   . 

'^  In  HosinersJiolm,  Rebecca's  nymphomania  is  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  she  is  the  natural  daughter 
of  a  Lapland  woman  of  doubtful  morals.  'I  believe 
your  whole  conduct  is  determined  by  your  origin, ' 
Rector  Kroll  says  to  her.  Rosmer  never  laughs, 
because  'it  is  a  trait  of  his  family.'  He  is  'the 
descendant  of  the  men  that  look  down  on  us  from 
these  walls.'  His  'spirit  is  deeply  rooted  in  his 
ancestry.'  Hilda,  the  step-daughter  of  the  'Lady 
from  the  Sea'  says:  'I  should  not  wonder  if  some 
fine  day  she  went  mad.  .  .  .  Her  mother  went 
mad,  too.  She  died  mad.  I  know  that.'  In  The 
Wild  Duck  nearly  every  one  has  a  hereditary  mark. 
Gregers  Werle,  the  malignant  imbecile,  wlio  liolds 
and  proclaims  his  passion  for  gossip  as  an  ardent 


406  Appendix  [Lecture  VI 

desire  for  trutli,  inherits  this  craze  from  his  mother. 
Little  Hedwig  becomes  blind,  like  her  father,  old 
Werle. 

"In  the  earlier  philosophical  dramas  the  same 
idea  is  constantly  repeated.  Brand  gets  his  obsti- 
nacy, and  Peer  Gynt  his  lively,  extravagant  imagi- 
nation, from  the  mother.  Ibsen  has  evidently  read 
Lucas's  book  on  the  first  principles  of  heredity, 
and  has  borrowed  from  it  uncritically.  It  is  true 
that  Lucas  believes  in  the  inheritance  even  of 
notions  and  feelings  as  complex  and  as  nearly 
related  to  specific  facts  as,  e.g.,  the  horror  of  doc- 
tors, and  that  he  does  not  doubt  the  transmission 
of  diseased  deviations  from  the  norm,  e.g.,  the 
appearance  of  blindness  at  a  definite  age.  Lucas, 
however,  whose  merits  are  not  to  be  denied,  did 
not  sufficiently  distinguish  between  that  which  the 
individual  receives  in  its  material  genesis  from  its 
parents,  and  that  which  is  subsequently  suggested 
by  family  life  and  example,  by  continuous  exist- 
ence in  the  same  conditions  as  its  parents,  etc. 
Ibsen  is  the  true  'man  of  one  book.'  He  abides 
by  his  Lucas."  —  Max  Nokdau,  Degeneration,  pp. 
350-352. 

Note  48.  Page  215.  —  "  It  has  come  about  that 
the  novels  and  stories  which  are  to  fill  our  leisure 
hours  and  cheer  us  in  this  vale  of  tears  have  be- 
come what  we  call  tragic.  It  is  not  easy  to  define 
what  tragedy  is,  but  the  term  is  applied  in  modern 
fiction  to  scenes  and  characters  that  come  to  ruin  from 
no  particular  fault  of  their  own,  — not  even  when 


Lecture  VI]  Appendix  407 

the  characters  break  most  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments,—  but  by  an  unappeasable  fate  that  dogs  and 
thwarts  them.  Ugliness  and  suffering  and  misfort- 
une unrelieved  make  a  modern  tragedy,  and  there 
has  come  an  opinion  that  tragedy  of  this  sort  is  the 
highest  type  of  literature.  .  .  .  This  situation  has 
much  of  the  tragic  in  it.  It  is  nothing  else  than 
tragic  to  see  a  rosy-cheeked  or  spectacled  young 
woman  whose  life  has  been  mainly  guarded  from 
evil  and  surrounded  by  the  sunshine  of  family  and 
social  affection,  or  a  young  man  of  considerable 
culture  and  considerable  promise^  whose  enjoyment 
of  life  is  scarcely  at  all  abated  by  cigarettes  and  a 
sceptical  philosophy,  sit  down  with  an  inkstand  and 
a  steel  pen,  and  on  white  paper  sketch  the  blackness 
of  life,  the  misery  of  humanity,  the  wretchedness  of 
a  world  of  damnable  complications,  of  which  neither 
of  them  can  have  had  more  than  the  slightest  expe- 
rience. .  .  .  But  the  young  only  follow  more  ex- 
perienced and  skilful  leaders  in  this  —  leaders  who 
are  supposed  in  their  melodramatic  tales  to  touch 
the  height  of  ancient  and  dignified  tragedy  in 
literature.  These  writers  bring  together  a  half- 
dozen  human  beings  of  feeble  will  and  strong  pas- 
sions, ignorant,  or  half-educated,  or  oestlietically 
educated,  who  have  an  assortment  of  good  and  bad 
qualities,  who  cannot  tell  a  lie,  but  who  can  break 
any  marriage  tie  they  have  sworn  to,  who  can 
murder  in  a  lielpless  sort  of  way,  who  break  all 
the  social  conventions  of  decency  but  have  convic- 
tions of  their  own  about  morality,  who  violate  all 
the  laws  of  thrift  and  order  and   of  conduct   ex- 


408  Appendix  [Lecture  VI 

pressed  by  Moses  or  by  the  state,  and  pass  their 
lives  in  misery,  and  are  defeated  in  every  transient 
aspiration  for  a  better  life,  and  come  altogether  to 
a  pitiful  and  squalid  end.  And  for  this  misery 
and  this  end  they  are  in  no  wise  to  blame.  They 
could  not  help  themselves,  poor  things;  they  do 
not  know  that  in  half  the  cases  it  was  the  novelist 
who  would  not  let  them  help  themselves,  but  kept 
them  grinding  along  in  his  circle  of  cruel  complica- 
tions. .  .  .  This  is  the  romance  of  fatality,  and  if 
it  is  tragedy,  it  is  the  tragedy  of  fatalism. 

"  If  we  are  permitted  to  turn  to  what  used  to  be 
called  in  literature  tragedy,  we  find  that  the  Greek 
dramatists  have  another  conception  of  it.  In  the 
dramas  of  ^schylus  we  see  the  impassioned  pres- 
entation of  humanity  in  action,  and  humanity  in 
action  on  the  basis  of  the  poet's  ethical  conception 
of  the  divine  government  of  the  world.  Not  a 
mechanical  fate,  but  a  providential  Nemesis,  had 
been  the  lesson  of  Homer  and  the  lyric  poets ;  and 
this  was  the  ruling  motive  of  Greek  tragedy,  —  the 
sense  of  a  righteous  power,  the  Hebraic  idea  of  an 
offended  holiness  punishing  pride  and  vice  to  the 
children's  children,  but  showing  mercy  to  the  peni- 
tent. It  set  forth  the  moral  law,  and  the  tragedy 
flowed  from  its  disobedience.  This  had  the  faint- 
est relation  to  the  Fatality  of  the  Orient  and  of  the 
modern  novelist."  —  Charles  Dudley  Warner, 
Harper's  Magazine,  March,  1896,  "Fatalism  in 
Modern  Fiction." 


Lecture  VI]  Appendix  409 


Note  49.     Page  216.  —  "There  is,   however 


an- 


other series  of  speculations,  which  has  probably 
contributed  as  much  as  anything  to  modern  pes- 
simism. If  the  State  Socialist  is  trying  to  com- 
press impulse  and  will  in  political  society,  the 
physiologist  is  fighting  the  old  battle  against  free 
will  in  the  individual,  with  what  seems  for  the 
moment  asbolute  success.  In  a  sense,  of  course, 
we  did  not  need  Mr.  Galton  and  his  compeers  on 
the  Continent  to  teach  us  the  doctrine  of  heredity. 
Its  main  facts  have  never  been  overlooked,  and 
modern  science  might  take  for  its  epigraph,  '  The 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes  and  the  children's 
teeth  are  set  on  edge.'  Still,  there  is  the  greatest 
possible  difference  between  a  wise  man's  aphorism, 
the  precise  value  of  which  is  not  easily  calculable, 
and  a  scientific  demonstration,  which  shows  the 
whole  region  occupied  by  a  particular  law.  Fifty 
years  ago  a  man's  chance  of  extricating  himself 
from  family  failings  seemed  an  extremely  fair 
one.  The  mother's  influence  might  counteract  the 
father's;  and  the  man  whose  parents  were  of 
dubious  worth  might  hark  back  to  an  older  and 
better  stock;  or  the  influences  of  education  might 
neutralize  the  inherited  evil  quality.  All  these 
considerations  remain  as  true  as  they  were,  but  we 
see  more  clearly  than  we  did  that  everything  which 
has  once  been  in  the  race  endures  as  a  permanent 
influence  modifying  it,  and  that  family  types  are 
apt  to  remain  scarcely  alterable  for  generations. 
Even  if  a  particular  man  can  flatter  himself  with 
reason  that  he  has  escaped  or  conquered  a  vicious 


410  Appendix  [Lecture  VI 

tendency,  he  knows  that  he  isjdoqmed  to  see  it 
reappear  in  his  chiklren.  Now,  the  fatalism  of 
science  in  this  direction  seems  of  a  more  hopeless 
kind  than  the  old  theological  doctrine  of  predestina- 
tion to  life  eternal  or  death  eternal.  In  Calvinism 
the  doomed  man  does  not  know  his  fate.  Occasion- 
ally he  fancies  he  does,  and  is  overpowered  by  the 
horror  of  the  situation,  but,  as  a  rule,  he  acts  on 
the  assumption  that  he  may  be  one  of  the  elect. 
On  tlie  other  hand,  every  man  knows  that  the  furies 
of  past  generations  are  behind  him;  and  that  he  is 
bound  to  inherit  the  passions  and  the  impotencies 
as  well  as  the  nobler  qualities  of  his  ancestral  line. 
In  Calvinism  the  man's  life  upon  earth  is  not  neces- 
sarily affected.  He  may  be  a  very  excellent  man 
to  current  acceptation.  Besides  the  ordinary  obli- 
gation to  live  well  which  he  recognizes,  he  is  deeply 
interested  in  his  own  success,  as  his  works  are  a 
slight  indication  that  he  may  have  been  called. 
The  modern  thinker,  however,  who  has  taken  up 
the  teaching  of  heredity  as  a  faith,  may  easily 
come  to  look  upon  himself  as  nothing  more  than  a 
compound  of  experiences.  He  is  visited  at  every 
critical  moment  by  the  doubt  whether  it  is  really 
possible  for  him  to  escape^  from  the  character  tliat 
lie  inherits  as  he  inherits  physical  t^qie. "  —  Charles 
H.  Pearson,  Fortnightly  Review,  "The  Causes  of 
Pessimism." 

Note  50.  Page  216.  —  "  The  'religion  of  human- 
ity '  runs  back  the  genealogy  of  man,  with  all  his 
powers,   with  all  his   equipments,   to  the  dust  of 


Lecture  VI]  Appendix  411 

the  earth.  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  genealogy  which 
T  wish  you  to  compare  with  the  genealogy  of  Luke. 
It  is  not  a  satire,  it  is  not  an  irony.  I  have  taken 
it  from  the  pages  of  Ernest  Haeckel.  It  is  true,  I 
have  condensed  it  from  perhaps  a  dozen  pages,  but 
in  that  condensation  I  have  followed  precisely  the 
line  traced  by  the  atheistic  pliilosopher.  What  is 
omitted  is  simply  tlie  detailed  description  of  the 
several  species  in  the  genealogy.  Let  me  read  it : 
"'Monera  begat  Amoeb?e,  Amoebae  begat  Syn- 
amoebse,  Synamoebee  begat  Ciliated  Larva,  Ciliated 
Larva  begat  Primeval  Stomach  Animals,  Primeval 
Stomach  Animals  begat  Gliding  AVorms,  Gliding 
Worms  begat  Soft  Worms,  Soft  Worms  begat  Sack 
AVorms,  Sack  Worms  begat  Skull-less  Animals, 
Skull-less  Animals  begat  Single-nostrilled  Animals, 
Single-nostrilled  Animals  begat  Primeval  Fish, 
Primeval  Fish  begat  Mud  Fish,  Mud  Fish  begat 
Gilled  Amphibians,  Gilled  Amphibians  begat  Tailed 
Amphibians,  Tailed  Amphibians  begat  Primeval 
Amniota,  Primeval  Amniota  begat  Primary  Mam- 
mals, Primary  Mammals  begat  Pouched  Animals, 
Pouched  Animals  begat  Semi-apes,  Semi-apes  begat 
Tailed  Apes,  Tailed  Apes  begat  Man-like  Apes, 
Man-like  Apes  begat  Ape-like  Men,  Ape-like  Men 
begat  Men.'  " — Lvmax  Aubott,  Christian  Thourjht, 
1887,  Article  on  "The  Pveligion  of  Humanity." 

Note  51.  Page  223.  —"Men  do  actually  antag- 
onize and  overcome  their  vital  inheritance,  d(^fy 
their  environment,  and,  without  dependence  u})on 
either,  choose  to  live  as  if  they  were  the  chihlreu 


412  Ajjpendix  [Lecture  VI 

of  a  virtuous  ancestry  and  subject  only  to  refined 
conditions.  These  truths  are  apparently  contra- 
dictory, and  yet  one  is  as  evident  as  the  other. 
Two  boys  are  the  children  of  drunken  parents; 
their  home  is  one  room  of  a  tenement  in  which  a 
dozen  other  persons  eat  and  sleep;  their  school  is 
the  street.  All  that  bad  blood  and  evil  conditions 
can  do  for  them  is  done.  Some  day  the  elder  in  a 
fit  of  drunken  fury  strikes  a  murderous  blow.  He 
is  arrested,  arraigned,  tried,  condemned,  executed; 
he  alone,  though  at  the  bar  of  God  he  has  many 
accomplices.  Equally,  and  possibly  still  more, 
culpable  are  the  society  which  makes  it  possible 
for  sucli  degraded  creatures  to  be  born;  the  State, 
which  allows  saloons  on  every  corner,  and  permits 
such  wretched  tenements  as  the  childhood  home 
of  these  boys;  and  the  men  who  own  those  build- 
ings, anxious  rather  for  rent  than  for  the  welfare 
of  human  beings.  The  other  boy,  however,  son  of 
the  same  drunken  parents  and  brought  up  amidst 
the  same  vileness,  is  no  longer  there.  His  evil 
heritage  has  been  overcome,  and  his  circumstances 
changed;  he  is  a  gentleman  of  wealth,  of  culture, 
of  real  and  unaffected  goodness.  What  has  made 
the  difference?  Not  society,  for  the  surroundings 
of  the  lads  were  alike  bad.  The  younger  may  have 
received  from  his  ancestry  certain  good  tendencies 
that  his  brother  did  not;  but  so  far  as  can  be  traced 
the  legacy  has  been  the  same.  What  shall  we  think 
about  this  remarkable  and  impressive  contrast?  I 
know  no  answer  except  this:  in  every  man  there  is 
an  untainted  power^  something  which  passes  from 


Lecture  VI]  Appendix  413 

generation  to  generation  untouched  by  change,  and 
tliat  in  this  ultimate  essence  of  personality  rests 
the  power  of  choice,  whicli  may  be  shut  in  by  evil 
conditions  and  tied  to  a  thousand  evil  tendencies, 
but  which  is  in  its  nature  free,  and  is  rarely,  if 
ever,  entirely  denied  expression.  At  least  it  may 
be  said  that  no  fact  in  the  physical  series  militates 
against  the  doctrine  of  human  freedom  which  may 
not  immediately  be  met  and  fully  balanced  by  a 
fact  in  the  spiritual  series."  —  Amoky  H.  Brad- 
ford, Heredity  and  Christian  Problems,  p}).  81),  90. 

Note  52.  Page  226.  — "Under  these  circum- 
stances, one  can  leave  the  question  open  whilst  wait- 
ing for  light,  or  one  can  do  what  most  speculative 
minds  do,  that  is,  look  to  one's  general  philosoi)hy 
to  incline  the  beam.  The  believers  in  mechanism 
do  so  without  hesitation,  and  they  ought  not  to 
refuse  a  similar  privilege  to  the  believers  in  a  spir- 
itual force.  I  count  myself  among  the  latter,  but 
as  my  reasons  are  ethical  they  are  hardly  suited  for 
introduction  into  a  psychological  work.  The  last 
word  of  psychology  here  is  ignorance,  for  the 
•forces '  engaged  are  certainly  too  delicate  and  nu- 
merous to  be  followed  in  detail.  Meanwhile,  in 
view  of  the  strange  arrogance  with  Avhich  the  wihl- 
est  materialistic  speculations  persist  in  calling 
themselves  'science,'  it  is  well  to  recall  just  what 
the  reasoning  is,  by  which  the  effect-theory  of  atten- 
tion is  confirmed.  It  is  an  argument  from  analogy, 
drawn  from  rivers,  reflex  actions,  and  other  mate- 
rial phenomena  where  no  consciousness  appears  to 


41^1:  Appendix  [Lecture  VI 

exist  at  all,  and  extended  to  cases  where  conscious- 
ness seems  the  phenomenon's  essential  feature.  The 
consciousness  doesn't  count,  these  reasoners  say;  it 
doesn't  exist  for  science,  it  is  nil;  you  mustn't 
think  about  it  at  all.  The  intensely  reckless  char- 
acter of  all  tliis  needs  no  comment.  It  is  making 
the  mechanical  theory  true  per  fas  ant  nefas.  For 
the  sake  of  that  theory  we  make  inductions  from 
phenomena  to  others  that  are  startlingly  tinlikQ 
them;  and  we  assume  that  a  complication  which 
Nature  has  introduced  (the  presence  of  feeling  and 
of  effort,  namely)  is  not  worthy  of  scientific  recog- 
nition at  all.  Such  conduct  may  conceivably  be 
loise,  though  I  doubt  it;  but  scientific,  as  con- 
trasted with  metapliysical,  it  cannot  seriously  be 
called." — William  James,  Psjjcholog]/  (^ew  York, 
Henry  Holt  &  Co.),  Vol.  I.,  p.  454.  ' 

''  The  most  that  any  argument  can  do  for  deter- 
minism is  to  make  it  a  clear  and  seductive  concep- 
tion, which  a  man  is  foolish  not  to  espouse,  so  long 
as  he  stands  by  the  great  scientific  postulate  that 
the  world  must  be  one  unbroken  fact,  and  that 
prediction  of  all  things  without  exception  must 
be  ideally,  even  if  not  actually,  possible.  It  is  a 
moral  postulate  about  the  Universe,  the  postulate 
that  ivhat  ought  to  be  can  he,  and  that  had  acts  can- 
not he  fated,  h\it  that  good  ones  must  he  possihle  in 
their  place,  which  would  lead  one  to  espouse  the 
contrary  view.  But  when  scientific  and  moral  pos- 
tulates war  thus  with  each  other  and  objective  proof 
is  not  to  be  had,  the  only  course  is  voluntary  choice. 


Lecture  VI]  Appendix  415 

for  scepticism  itself,  if  systematic,  is  also  volun- 
tary choice.  If,  meanwhile,  the  will  he  determined, 
it  would  seem  only  fitting  that  the  belief  in  its 
determination  should  be  voluntarily  chosen  from 
amongst  other  possible  beliefs.  Freedom's  first 
deed  should  be  to  affirm  itself.  We  ought  never 
to  hope  for  any  other  method  of  getting  at  the 
truth  if  in  determinism  be  a  fact.  Doubt  of  this 
particular  truth  will,  therefore,  probably  be  open 
to  us  to  the  end  of  time,  and  the  utmost  that  a 
believer  in  free-will  can  ever  do  will  be  to  show 
tliat  the  deterministic  arguments  are  not  coercive. 
That  they  are  seductive,  I  am  the  last  to  deny; 
nor  do  I  deny  that  effort  may  be  needed  to  keep  the 
faith  in  freedom,  when  they  press  upon  it,  upright 
in  the  mind."  — 76?d.,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  573  ff. 

Note  53.  Page  227.  —  "  First,  the  humiliation  of 
our  Lord,  including  His  Incarnation,  is  represented 
as  a  continuously  voluntary  act.  His  determina- 
tion to  become  incarnate,  and  tlie  act  of  becoming 
so,  are  certainly  represented  as  voluntary.  Its 
whole  moral  value  is  described  as  consisting  in  the 
freeness  with  which  it  was  done.  It  thus  became 
the  act  of  self-sacrifice  and  self-humiliation  that 
it  was.  'He  who  was  rich  became  poor.'  'He 
thought  not  equality  with  God  a  matter  for  grasp- 
ing, but  made  Himself  of  no  account,  and  took  the 
form  of  a  servant.'  Tlie  point,  however,  to  wliicli 
I  call  attention  is  that,  after  the  act  of  incarnation 
had  been  accomplished,  the  incarnate  life  of  humili- 
ation on  earth  is  represented  as  still  a  continuous 


416  Appendix  [Lecture  VI 

act  of  voluntary  lowliness.  Thus,  in  Pliilippians, 
He  not  only  took  the  form  of  a  servant  and  became 
in  the  likeness  of  men,  but,  being  found  in  fashion 
as  a  man.  He  humbled  Himself  and  became  obedient 
unto  death.  His  subjugation  to  law  is  here  de- 
scribed as  a  continuously  voluntary  act  and  as  the 
continuation  of  the  same  purpose  and  personal 
determination  by  which  He  became  man.  So  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  we  read:  'Forasmuch 
as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood. 
Himself  also  in  like  manner  [TrapaTrAT/o-t'cos,  "  in  every 
respect"]  partook  of  the  same.'  Both  the  act  of 
incarnation  and  all  His  experimental  identity  with 
man  were  parts  of  one  plan  of  voluntary  self- 
humiliation." —  Rev.  George  T.  Pukves,  The 
Incarnation  Biblically  Considered,  p.  78. 

Note  54.  Page  234. —  "The  whole  of  Jesus' 
preaching  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  a  procla- 
mation of  grace,  a  doctrine  of  salvation,  and  it  is 
united  with  the  doctrine  of  righteousness  in  the 
manner  of  the  Augustinian  ^  Doniine,  da  quod  jubes, 
etjabe  quod  vis.'  Not  as  though  Jesus  had  deprived 
man  of  moral  freedom.  On  the  contrary, —  and  the 
ethical  conception  of  his  doctrine  just  rejected  is 
quite  right  in  this,  —  the  presupposition  that  man 
is  incapable  of  doing  the  will  of  God  on  account  of 
sin  is  unknown  to  Jesus.  He  demands  of  men 
throughout  the  doing  of  His  commandments,  the 
doing  of  the  divine  will.  He  credits  them  through- 
out with  the  power  to  repent,  that  is,  to  change 
their  iiiind,  and  become  of  that  mind,  in  virtue  of 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  417 

wliicli  one  can  only  truly  do  the  commandments  of 
God  in  detail.  And  He  not  only  credits  tliem  with 
this  freedom,  on  the  authority  of  His  Word  and 
Gospel,  but  also  on  the  authority  of  the  words  of 
the  Old  Testament,  the  law,  and  the  prophets.  It 
is  by  no  means  meant  ironically  when  He  directs 
the  scribes  to  the  two  great  commandments  (Luke 
X.  23  f.),  'Do  this,  and  you  will  live ';  or  the  rich 
young  man  (Matt.  xix.  17),  'If  thou  wilt  enter 
into  life,  keep  the  commandments.'  It  is  said  of 
the  brethren  of  the  rich  man  (Luke  xiv.  29),  'They 
have  Moses  and  the  prophets,  let  them  hear  them ' 
(viz.  in  the  interest  of  their  own  conversion).  The 
poor  Lazarus,  in  the  same  parable,  has  heard  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  and  in  their  school  has  developed 
an  inner  life  which  could  bear  him  at  death  on 
angels'  wings  into  paradise;  and  Abraham,  the 
patriarchs,  the  j)rophets,  according  to  Luke  xvi. 
22,  Matt.  viii.  12,  have  arrived  there."  —  Bf.y- 
scHLAG,  New  Testament  Theology,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  131, 
132. 

LECTURE   VII 

Note  55.  Page  257.  —  "This  new  conception  of 
God,  as  immanent  in  nature,  is  necessarily  accom- 
panied by  a  new  conception  of  law  and  miracles. 
Eather,  we  are  going  back  to  the  iN'ew  Testament 
conception  and  definition  of  miracles.  They  are 
no  longer  regarded  as  violations  of  natural  law,  or 
even  as  suspensions  of  natural  law.  Indeed,  in 
strictness  of  speech,  in  the  view  of  this  philoso- 
pliy,  there  are  no  natural  laws  to  be  violated  or 

2e 


418  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

suspended.  There  is  only  one  Force,  that  is  God; 
law  is  but  the  habit  of  God's  action;  miracles  are 
but  the  manifestation  of  His  power  and  presence  in 
unexpected  actions,  demonstrating  the  existence  of 
an  intelligent  Will  and  Power  superior  to  that  of 
man.  I  say  that  this  is  a  recurrence  to  the  New 
Testament  conception  and  definition  of  miracles; 
for  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  knew  noth- 
ing about  nature  and  the  supernatural,  nothing 
about  natural  causes  and  the  violation  or  suspen- 
sion of  natural  laws.  The  words  they  used  to 
characterize  what  we  call  miracles  indicate  their 
apprehension  of  these  events.  Four  words  were 
used  by  them:  'wonders,'  'powers,'  'works,'  and 
'signs'  or  'miracles.'  Any  event  attracting  atten- 
tion and  compelling  ivonder,  exhibiting  unusual 
or  more  than  human  poiver,  accomplishing  a  real 
wo7^Jc,  usually  beneficent,  and  serving  as  the  sign  of 
a  special  messenger  and  an  authentication  of  his 
message,  is  in  the  conception  of  the  writers  of  the 
New  Testament  a  miracle.  As  the  New  Theology 
believes  that  'all  power  belongs  to  God,'  that  God 
is  immanent  in  the  universe,  and  that  there  is  no 
real  distinction  between  the  natural  and  the  super- 
natural, that  the  only  dualism  is  the  material  or 
physical  and  the  immaterial  or  spiritual,  it  has  no 
difficulty  in  believing  that  the  control  of  the  physi- 
cal by  the  spiritual,  and  therefore  of  the  universe 
by  its  God,  is  sometimes  manifested  by  unexpected 
or  unusual  acts  of  power  and  wisdom  for  spiritual 
ends.  These  are  miracles." — 'Lyman  Abbott, 
The  Evolution  of  Christianity,  pp.  112,  113. 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  419 

"It  is  not  of  course  that  there  is  any  spiritual 
parsimony  in  God,  but  that  it  is  only  through  the 
comparative  rarity  of  the  gleams  of  light,  through 
their  contrast  to  common  experience,  that  tliey 
teach  us  the  true  lesson  of  that  common  experi- 
ence. If  they  were  much  more  frequent,' — we 
being  what  we  are,  —  we  should  lose  the  meaning 
of  the  lesson  through  that  f requeue}^;  just  as  in 
countries  where  life  is  excessively  precarious, 
death  does  not  enhance  half  so  much  as  in  other 
countries  the  value  of  life.  In  a  land  where  every 
one  was  original,  originality  would  lose  its  power, 
and  perhaps  become  a  great  danger;  its  value  being 
to  explain  the  limitations  of  ordinary  habit,  not  to 
dissolve  ordinary  habit.  So  spiritual  influence  is 
the  divine  comment  on  ordinary  human  w^ants  and 
desires,  and  miracle  the  divine  comment  on  law  — 
neither  of  which  would  have  the  same  value,  if  the 
subject  of  the  comment  were  not  worked  into  the 
very  substance  of  our  minds  before  the  comment 
came.  Miracle  teaches  the  divine  meaning  of  per- 
manent law ;  and  owes  all  its  impressiveness  to  the 
comparative  fixity  and  permanence  of  the  phenom- 
ena which  it  interrupts.  Miracle  forces  upon  us 
personality,  but  would  not  force  it  upon  us  unless 
it  were  so  exceptional  in  its  mode  of  occurrence  as 
to  open  a  new  mental  relation  between  us  and  the 
Author  of  Nature.  It  is  a  mistake  to  take  the  uni- 
formity of  the  laws  of  Nature  as  the  measure  of 
God's  purposes,  just  as  it  is  a  mistake  to  take  the 
every-day  habits  even  of  a  human  being  as  the 
measure  of  his  aims.     You  cannot  tell  what  they 


420  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

really  mean  —  they  are  too  wide  for  interpretation 
—  till  you  get  some  light  on  them  from  the  occa- 
sions on  which  the  man  himself  breaks  through 
them,  and  you  see  the  reasons  he  assigns  for  doing 
so.  And  so  Avith  the  laws  of  Nature  —  they  are  far 
too  big  for  moral  interpretation,  too  vast  for  our 
survey,  till  at  some  one  point  we  see  the  reason 
why  they  are  modified,  and,  then,  that  first  really 
tells  us  the  reason  why  they  Avere  ever  fixed.  It 
is  not  that  miracle  is  half  as  Avide  as  Nature;  on 
the  contrary,  it  is  just  because  it  is  so  much  nar- 
roAver,  that  it  lets  the  gleam  of  the  personal  Spirit 
shine  through  it,  and  so  throws  a  light  on  the 
Avhole  structure." — E,.  H.  Huttox,  Conte7n]porary 
Thought  and  Thinkers,  Vol.  II.,  i^p.  119,  120. 

Note  56.  Page  258.  —  "  They  Avere  talking  about 
miracles,  and  the  young  Doctor  said:  'You  knoAV 
as  well  as  I  do,  Stephen,  that  everything  in  this 
world  moves  in  regular  order.  The  laAvs  of  nature 
are  Avhat  Ave  all  have  to  depend  on,  and  they  never 
change.  It's  certain  that  if  you  plant  potatoes 
they  Avon't  come  up  pumpkins.  Neither  you  nor 
any  man  here  ever  saw  a  miracle.  You  never 
heard  of  one  in  your  life  in  these  parts.  You 
never  heard  of  pumpkin  vines  groAving  from  pota- 
toes. It  stands  to  reason  and  common  sense  that 
Avhen  no  man  in  this  toAvn  ever  saw  anything  hap- 
pen that  Avasn't  in  the  regular  course  of  natural 
laAV,  anything  supernatural,  it  isn't  likely  such 
things  are  going  to  happen  here.' 

"I  looked  at  Stephen,  as  the  Doctor  called  him. 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  421 

He  was  an  elderly  man,  hard-featured  and  sun- 
burned. There  was  a  shrewd  twinkle  in  his  eye, 
but  he  looked  at  the  stove  and  not  at  the  Doctor, 
and  there  was  a  silence  for  a  moment  wliile  he 
pondered.  Then  he  spoke  in  a  mild,  inquiring  sort 
of  way,  which  contrasted  with  the  Doctor's  some- 
what self-opinionated  tone. 

" '  I  don't  know  much  about  the  laws  of  natur', 
but  I  suppose  you  mean  something  like  this  —  that 
when  I  let  go  that  jack-knife  it'll  fall  on  the  floor; ' 
and  he  stretched  out  a  long  arm  holding  an  open 
knife  by  the  blade  between  his  thumb  and  linger. 

"'Exactly,'  said  the  Doctor;  'that's  the  law  of 
gravitation. ' 

"'And  it's  sure  to  fall,  and  I  can  bet  my  money 
on  it,  and  I  needn't  be  afraid  of  a  miracle?  Look 
here.  Doctor,  where  did  the  law  that  binds  it  to 
fall  come  from?     What  made  that  particular  law?' 

"The  Doctor  was  honest;  that  was  evident  from 
his  reply.  'The  learned  men  who  have  investi- 
gated the  laws  of  nature  have  not  found  the  origin 
of  the  laws.  They  will  in  time.  It's  only  in 
recent  years  that  science  has  made  its  great  dis- 
coveries in  the  laws  themselves.  Heat,  light, 
colour,  electricity,  all  the  great  characteristics  of 
the  changing  world  and  of  matter  itself,  have 
never  been  understood  as  they  are  now.' 

"'And  you  can't  tell  me  what  made  the  law  that 
binds  that  jack-knife  to  fall  down? ' 

"'No,  I  can't.  It's  enough  to  know  as  certain 
that  it  will  fall.  Just  let  go,  and  you'll  see  the 
certainty. ' 


422  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

^^'No  chance  of  anything  supernat'ral;  any 
miracle?  ' 

"'Miracle  be  hanged.  Let  go  the  blade.' 
"Stephen's  thumb  and  finger  separated  and  stood 
stretched  out  wide  apart.  The  jack-knife  was  not 
on  the  floor.  It  was  hanging  to  the  wooden  ceiling 
overhead,  its  blade  buried  a  half-inch  in  the  soft 
pine.  For  about  ten  seconds  no  one  spoke.  Ste- 
phen was  looking  at  the  Doctor. 

"'Suthin'  supernat'ral  happened,  didn't  it?'  said 
Stephen. 

"  'You  jerked  the  knife  up  yourself.' 
"'Well,  that  warn't  nat'ral,  war  it?' 
" The  Doctor  hesitated.     'Now  see  here,  Doctor,' 
said  the  old  man,  'just  tell  me  how  old  is  your  law 
that  the  jack-knife's  got  to  fall  down.' 

'"Millions  of  years  old.  Just  as  old  as  there 
has  been  anything  to  fall.' 

"'And  how  old  was  the  law  that  said  that  jack- 
knife  must  go  up  there  and  stick  its  blade  in  that 
white-pine  ceiling?  Just  three  minutes  and  a  half 
old  by  the  clock.  Now  what  I  want  to  know  is 
where  did  your  law  that  it  must  go  down  come 
from.  You  say  you  don't  know.  Well,  it  stands 
to  sense,  then,  and  you  can't  deny  that  it  may 
come  from  some  one  that  makes  it  go  down  just  as 
I  made  it  go  up.  If  your  science  is  worth  a  sneeze, 
it  oughtn't  to  deny  what  it  don't  know  nothing 
about.  And  if  that's  so,  it's  always  just  as  like  as 
not  whoever  made  the  thing  go  down  will  make  it 
go  up,  without  you  or  I  or  an}^  one  else  knowing 
what  made  it  go^  any  more  than  you  know  what 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  423 

made  me  jerk  that  knife  up  yonder.  You  tell  me 
that  if  I  plant  potatoes  they  won't  come  up 
squashes,  but  you  just  tell  me  what  plants  pota- 
toes, or  what  makes  me  plant  'em,  anyhow.  If  I 
don't  plant  'em,  there  ain't  going  to  be  any  pota- 
toes nor  squashes.  It's  according  to  reason  that 
if  potatoes  come  up  because  I  planted  potatoes, 
squashes  don't  come  up  from  them,  because  some 
one  else  takes  care  of  that  part  of  the  business.  I 
don't  believe  in  your  argiments  that  laws  always 
may  be  depended  on,  when  you  tell  me  yourself 
that  you  don't  know  where  the  laws  come  from 
and  how  long  they're  goin'  to  last.  Your  science 
is  all  right,  Doctor,  just  as  long  as  it  talks  about 
what  it  knows  about.  But  when  your  science  says 
a  knife's  bound  to  fall  down,  and  don't  take  into 
account  that  something  supernat'ral  may  interfere 
that  science  don't  know  nothing  about,  sich  as  my 
sudden  making  up  my  mind  to  jerk  it  up,  why  your 
science  ain't  wuth  any  more  than  a  last  year's 
almanac  to  tell  a  fellow  what  the  weather's  goin' 
to  be.' 

"By  this  time  Stephen's  tone  and  style  had 
changed.  He  was  no  longer  humble  and  inquir- 
ing, but  decidedly  aggressive.  There  were  some 
strong  words,  not  exactly  profane,  adjectively  ap- 
plied to  science  in  the  last  sentence,  which  I  have 
omitted.  He  talked  rapidly  and  vehemently  and 
with  pointed  logic.  Is  logic  one  of  the  distin- 
guishing characteristics  of  humanity?  There  are 
men,  exceptions,  sometimes  men  of  eminence,  who 
do  not  seem  to  have  any  idea  of  logic,  but  by  the 


424  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

vast  majority  of  men,  however  imeclucated,  logical 
sequence  seems  instinctively  appreciated,  and  the 
most  illiterate  are  very  sure  to  detect  failure  in 
argument. 

''As  he  talked  he  rose  and  stood  up,  six  feet 
two, —  a  mighty  frame,  lit  for  tremendous  work, — 
and  lie  poured  out  a  storm  of  plain  and  unanswer- 
able philosophic  truth,  ending  up  in  this  wise: 
'No  miracles,  but  only  jest  steady  laws?  Well, 
accordin'  to  law  that  jack-knife  will  stick  there 
till  the  wood  rots  or  the  steel  rusts.  Make  your 
prophecy  if  you  dare.  Say  what  it'll  do.  Is  there 
any  law  that'll  tell  you  what' 11  come  of  it?  or 
whether  Sam  or  Timmy  won't  have  it  down  and 
pocket  it  as  soon  as  I'm  gone?  You  don't  know? 
Well,  I  do.  There's  just  such  a  law,  and  I  made 
it; '  aud  so  saying  he  reached  up  his  long  arm, 
seized  the  knife,  and  strode  out  of  the  door,  growl- 
ing as  he  went."  —  W.  C.  Pkime,  Along  New  Eng- 
land Roads  (New  York,  Harpers,  1S92),  "A 
Village  Discussion,"  pp.   35-39. 

Note  57.  Page  266.  —  "  It  is  objected  to  the  be- 
lief that  God  is  personal,  that  personality  implies 
limitation,  and  that,  if  personal,  God  could  not 
be  infinite  and  absolute.  'Infinite'  (and  the  same 
is  true  of  'absolute')  is  an  adjective,  not  a  sub- 
stantive. When  used  as  a  noun,  preceded  by 
the  definite  article,  it  signifies,  not  a  being,  but 
an  abstraction.  AVhen  it  stands  as  a  predicate,  it 
means  that  the  subject,  be  it  space,  time,  or  some 
quality  of  a  being,  is  without  limit.     Thus,  when  I 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  425 

affirm  that  space  is  infinite,  I  express  a  positive 
perception,  or  thought.  I  mean  not  only  that  im- 
agination can  set  no  bounds  to  space,  but  also  that 
this  inability  is  owing,  not  to  any  defect  in  the 
imagination  or  conceptive  faculty,  but  to  the  nat- 
ure of  the  object.  When  I  say  that  God  is  infinite 
in  power,  I  mean  that  lie  can  do  all  things  which 
are  objects  of  power,  or  that  His  power  is  inca- 
pable of  increase.  No  amount  of  power  can  be 
added  to  the  power  of  which  He  is  possessed.  It 
is  only  when  the  'Infinite'  is  taken  as  the  syno- 
nyme  of  the  sum  of  all  existence,  that  personality 
is  made  to  be  incompatible  with  Grod's  infinitude. 
No  such  conception  of  Him  is  needed  for  the  satis- 
faction of  the  reason  or  the  heart  of  man.  Enough 
that  He  is  the  ground  of  the  existence  of  all  beings 
outside  of  Himself,  or  the  creative  and  sustaining 
power.  There  are  no  limitations  upon  His  power 
which  He  has  not  voluntarily  set.  Such  limitation 
—  as  in  giving  being  to  rational  agents  capable  of 
self-determination,  and  in  allowing  them  scope  for 
its  exercise  —  is  not  imposed  on  Him,  but  depends 
on  His  own  choice." — ^  George  P.  Fisher,  The 
Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Christian  Belief  (New 
York,  Scribners,  1883),  pp.  69,  70. 

"A  physical  law  has  nothing  wherewith  to  resist 
God,  wdio  can  as  easily  make  or  do  a  thing  in  an- 
other way  than  that  of  law,  as  by  that  law.  A 
physical  law  is  as  nothing,  regarding  it  as  j)re- 
venting  God  from  acting  in  any  special  way.  If 
this  law  acts,  it  acts;  but  if  it  does  not  act,  some 


426  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

otlier  mode  does  for  the  occasion.  But  it  is  a  dif- 
ferent tiling  when  we  come  to  the  actual  wills  of 
real  beings.  The  will  of  man  is  admitted  (with 
that  reserve  which,  as  ignorant  creatures,  we  must 
fall  back  upon  in  such  mysterious  statements),  as 
that  which  has  the  power  of  resisting  the  will  of 
God.  Free-will  is  claimed  as  a  real  attribute  of 
man  —  power  to  do  or  not  to  do.  The  will  can 
resist  God's  will,  and  can  stop  the  progress  of  a 
work  of  God.  Is  this  an  intricate  view  of  Divine 
dealings,  and  does  putting  Divine  power  under  such 
checks  and  conditions  as  a  progressive  revelation 
implies  seem  radically  to  interfere  with  the  attri- 
bute? This  is  an  objection  which,  if  it  be  of  any 
force  at  all,  does  not  apply  to  a  progressive  revela- 
tion specially;  it  applies  to  the  whole  idea  of  a 
Deity,  as  compatible  with  Iwww^w  free-io ill.  Human 
free-will  is  an  internal  modification  of  the  idea  of 
God,  which  is  only  prevented  from  interfering 
injuriously  with  the  idea,  by  the  intervention  of 
our  resort  to  ignorance.  As  ignorant  creatures  we 
are  not  entitled  to  say  that  apparent  limitations  of 
the  Divine  power  are  real  ones,  because  they  may 
be  only  such  as  the  mathematical  consistency  of 
truth  itself  imposes;  that  is,  only  verbal  restric- 
tions upon  power,  and  not  real  ones.  To  the  intel- 
lectual conception,  however,  the  idea  of  God  is  thus 
an  idea  with  checks  and  conditions  in  it;  and  those 
Avho  would  simplify  it  absolutely,  would  establish 
an  idol  and  not  a  God.  If  we  invent  an  idol,  all 
is  plain  enough;  there  are  no  enigmas  in  an  idol; 
there  are  no  reasons  why   individuals   cannot   be 


LECTURE  VII]  Apijendix  427 

converted  in  an  instant,  and  why  the  hnman  race 
cannot  be  enlightened  in  an  instant  by  an  abstract 
Omnipotence.  But  if  we  suppose  the  Deity  to  be 
the  Being  we  represent  Him  in  our  sermons,  our 
popular  treatises,  our  exhortations,  who  cannot  do 
some  things,  and  cannot  change  man  without  his 
own  concurrence,  this  is  a  Deity  who  cannot  give 
enlightenment  or  implant  a  revelation  in  man  by 
an  instantaneous  act,"  —  J.  B.  Mozley,  Ruling 
Ideas  in  Early  Ages  (London,  Eivingtons,  1889), 
pp.  249,  250. 

Note  58.  Page  268.  —  "  And  tliis  respect  of  God 
for  His  creatures  is  seen  most  of  all  in  His  relation 
to  man.  He  never  indeed  allows  human  freedom 
to  disturb  the  main  course  of  the  world's  develop- 
ment; to  tolerate  that  would  be  to  abandon  the 
providential  government  of  the  world.  But  within 
such  an  area  as  allows  man  to  exercise  a  real, 
though  limited,  freedom  —  to  such  a  degree  as  at 
least  may  involve  considerable  disturbance  in  the 
divine  order  for  the  sake  of  the  value  of  free,  as 
distinct  from  mechanical,  service  —  God  stands 
aloof  and  respects  that  free  nature  which  He  has 
created,  that  image  of  His  own  freedom  which  He 
has,  as  it  were,  planted  out  in  the  heart  of  the 
physical  creation.  God  respects  His  creature  man. 
His  power  refrains  itself.  But  is  there,  in  order 
to  leave  room  for  man's  freedom  of  choice,  a  limi- 
tation, not  only  of  God's  power,  but  of  His  fore- 
knowledge? Is  the  old  controversy  as  regards 
human  freedom  and  divine  foreknowledge  to   be 


428  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

solved  in  part  by  the  suggestion  tliat  a  limitation 
of  divine  foreknowing  accompanies  the  very  act  of 
creating  free  agents?  The  idea  has  commended 
itself  to  some  very  thoughtful  minds :  to  Origen, 
as  has  already  incidently  appeared  in  this  discus- 
sion, and  to  Dr.  Martineau  in  modern  times.  The 
accurate  examination  of  the  meaning  assigned  to 
divine  'foreknowledge '  in  the  Bible  tends  to  shake 
the  traditional  belief  that  God  is  there  revealed  as 
knowing  absolutely  beforehand  how  each  individual 
will  act.  Nevertheless,  it  is  at  least  as  difficult  to 
reject  this  belief  as  to  admit  it.  But,  whatever  be 
our  relation  to  it,  at  least  we  must  admit  that  the 
method  of  God  in  history,  like  the  method  of  God 
in  nature,  is  to  an  astonishing  degree  self -restrain- 
ing, gradual,  we  are  almost  driven  to  say,  tenta- 
tive. And  all  this  line  of  thought  —  all  this  way 
of  conceiving  of  God's  self-restraining  power  and 
wisdom  —  at  least  prepares  our  mind  for  that 
supreme  act  of  respect  and  love  for  His  creatures 
by  which  the  Son  of  God  took  into  Himself  human 
nature  to  redeem  it,  and  in  taking  it  limited  both 
His  power  and  His  knowledge  so  that  He  could 
verily  live  through  all  the  stages  of  a  perfectly 
human  experience  and  restore  our  nature  from 
witliin  by  a  contact  so  gentle  that  it  gave  life  to 
every  faculty  without  paralyzing  or  destroying 
any."  —  Charles  Gore,  Dissertations  (Xew  York, 
Scribners,  1895),  pp.  223,  224. 

Note  59.      Page  270.  —  "  We    must    distinguish 
between  tlie  intelligence  of  Deity  and  His  intellect- 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  429 

uality.  His  intellectuality,  His  capacity  to  know, 
is  perfect,  without  any  deficiency  or  weakness;  it 
is  an  element  of  His  necessary  existence,  and, 
therefore,  is  wholly  subjective.  But  His  intelli- 
gence is  the  knowing,  and  is  the  result  of  the 
exercise  of  His  intellectuality.  Intelligence  is 
derived  from  intuition,  from  consciousness,  from 
inference,  and  from  observation.  Intelligence 
derived  from  intuition  and  necessary  conscious- 
ness can  never  be  increased  or  decreased.  Intelli- 
gence derived  from  inference  and  observation  must 
be  derived  from  objectivity,  but  objectivity  is  the 
realm  of  the  contingent.  Intelligence  of  the  con- 
tingent can  never  exist  until  the  contingencies 
exist,  because  a  nonentity  can  have  no  objectivity. 
That  which  is  a  present  conceivable  nonentity  may 
become  an  actual  entity.  But  the  apprehension 
of  a  possible  entity  is  theory,  but  not  knowledge. 
We  must  distinguish  between  the  intelligence  of 
entities  and  the  apprehension  of  possibles,  between 
God's  consciousness  of  necessary  existences,  and 
His  intelligence  derived  from  His  inference  and 
from  His  observation  of  unnecessitated  things. 

"  Failing  to  make  this  discrimination,  men  infer 
that  God's  intelligence  of  contingencies  is  just  as 
immutable  as  His  intelligence  of  necessities.  In 
the  realm  of  necessities  all  God's  thoughts  are 
immutable  from  everlasting  to  everlasting;  but  in 
the  realm  of  contingencies  He  can  at  pleasure  will 
worlds  into  existence.  If  He  will  new  worlds  into 
being.  He  can  will  new  conceptions,  new  plans,  new 
enterprises  into  existence.      Having  the  power  to 


430  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

will  new  thouglits  into  existence,  He  has  the  power 
to  originate  new  creations,  new.  purposes  for  the 
glorification  of  His  intelligent  creatures,  for  the 
adornment  of  His  material  universe  and  the  illus- 
tration of  His  own  glorious  perfections.  His  con- 
sciousness derived  from  necessities  must  be  different 
from  His  consciousness  derived  from  actual  contin- 
gencies. 

"In  these  views  of  the  divine  nature  I  am  grati- 
fied in  being  supported  by  Dr.  Dorner,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  -Berlin,  one  who  stands  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  living  Protestant  divines.  In  a  recent 
number  of  the  Bihliotheca  Sacra  he  says:  'Any 
view  of  the  divine  nature  that  excludes  all  distinc- 
tion, movement,  and  change  from  God  is  incom- 
patible with  the  idea  of  creation.  The  world,  as 
a  thought,  was  a  determination  given  to  his  mind 
by  God.  He  must  have  conceived  the  world  as 
changeable,  or  He  would  not  have  willed  it  thus  to 
be.  In  the  divine  omniscience  there  must  be  an 
element  of  growth.  If  there  be  free  beings,  there 
must  be  free  determinations.  God  may  have  a 
prior  knowledge  of  them  as  mere  possibilities,  but 
He  cannot  have  a  knowledge  of  them  as  actuali- 
ties. This  knowledge  of  human  acts  must  be 
acquired  gradually  as  they  come  to  pass.  This 
knowledge  He  draws  from  history,  and  it  is  condi- 
tioned by  the  action  of  the  causalities  which  He 
has  brought  into  existence.  In  His  counsels,  in 
His  knowledge,  and  in  His  volitions  with  respect 
to  the  world,  in  His  relations  to  time  and  space, 
God  is  not  unchangeable.     In  these  regards  He 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  431 

undergoes  movement  and  change,  and  suffers  Him- 
self to  be  conditioned.'  "  —  L.  D.  McCabe,  Divine 
Nescience  (New  York,  Phillips  &  Hunt,  1882), 
pp.  25-27. 

"The  doctrine  of  God's  perfect  foreknowledge 
is  not  only  unphilosophical,  but  also  unscriptural. 
The  Bible  exhorts  us  to  the  deepest  earnestness  in 
prayer  —  to  downright  importunity  —  and  encour- 
ages us  to  believe  that  the  fervent  prayer  of  the 
righteous  man  availeth  much.  No  petitioner  can 
plead  with  any  genuine  unction  unless  he  believes 
that  he  can  actually  effect  some  change  in  the  pur- 
poses existing  in  the  divine  mind  at  the  time  his 
prayer  is  offered.  If  he  were  convinced  that  every- 
thing had  been  prearranged  from  all  eternity;  that 
his  tears  and  sighs  and  passionate  words  of  longing 
had  been  present  in  God's  mind  always;  that  they 
never  liad  exerted,  and  never  could  exert,  any  in- 
fluence, effect  any  change,  as  there  could  never  be 
a  time  when  they  would  first  arrest  God's  atten- 
tion,—  how  could  he  wrestle,  agonize,  in  prayer? 
It  would  seem  but  empty  show  to  him,  that  he  was 
merely  playing  a  part.  Every  word  he  uttered 
would  fall  ba-ck  dead.  If  he  believes  in  God's 
foreknowledge,  he  must,  while  he  prays,  if  he 
prays  as  the  Bible  commands,  utterly  forget  his 
belief  and  fall  into  the  temporary  delusion  that 
the  matter  is  yet  undetermined;  that  God's  heart 
is  tender,  can  be  moved;  that  His  purposes  can  be 
changed.  He  must  forget  his  belief,  must  go  ahead 
just  as  if  foreknowledge  were  not  true.     Think  you 


432  Appendix  [Lecture  VII 

God  would  force  His  children  to  such  straits,  to 
such  mental  stultification?  .   .   . 

"I  am  now  ready  to  answer  the  question,  How 
can  we  reasonably  hope  by  our  petitions  to  effect  a 
change  in  the  divine  purposes,  and  why  should  we 
plead  importunately,  why  kindle  our  souls  into  such 
intensity  of  fervour?  The  Scriptures  in  enjoining 
earnestness  need  not  be  understood  as  favouring 
attempts  to  coax  and  tease  God,  as  we  too  fre- 
quently do  our  earthly  parents,  to  act  against  His 
better  judgment  out  of  some  weak,  short-sighted 
sympathy.  If  that  be  our  purpose,  we  may  be  cer- 
tain of  flat  failure.  Our  prayers  will  never  induce 
Him  to  deal  any  more  generously  with  us.  He  has 
always  stood  with  outstretched  arms,  with  over- 
flowing sympathy,  waiting  impatiently  to  bless  us. 
What  untold  wealth  of  deep  inventive  thought, 
what  untold  seons  of  slowly  passing  years.  He  has 
already  lavished  in  His  preparations  for  our  com- 
ing, for  our  maintenance,  for  our  unfolding,  for 
our  permanent  weal !  While  our  prayers  will  not 
make  Him  any  more  kindly  disposed,  will  not 
noticeably  increase  His  sympatliy  for  us,  they 
will  in  most  marked  measure  increase  His  sym- 
pathy ivith  us,  will  profoundly  change  our  attitude 
toward  Him  and  multiply  our  capacity  for  blessing 
ten  thousand  fold.  Indeed,  so  radical  is  the  change 
wrought,  that  wliat  would  have  been  poison  before, 
becomes  medicine  now.  We  thus  furnish  God  new 
facts  upon  which  to  act  —  facts  of  mental  attitude, 
the  unforeseen  outputs  of  our  sovereignty.  That 
attitude  is  one  of  Christ-like  love,  manifesting  it- 


Lecture  VII]  Appendix  433 

self  in  five  forms,  —  that  of  willing  obedience,  of 
self-sacrificing  service,  of  sense  of  divine  depend- 
ence, of  restful  confidence,  and  of  intensest  long- 
ing. Until  that  attitude  is  attained  in  all  these 
its  prime  essentials,  God,  if  He  should  interfere 
by  stepping  outside  His  general  providence,  in 
which  the  evil  and  the  good  are  served  alike,  to 
confer  special  favours,  would  be  doing  violence  to 
His  conceptions  of  fitness  and  of  true  beneficence, 
would  work  His  children  a  most  positive  injury, 
placing  a  premium  on  qualities  that  stand  over 
against  these  forms  of  love,  thereby  countenancing 
a  spirit  of  rebellion,  selfishness,  self-sufficiency, 
distrust,  and  ignoble  apathy.  It  is  the  fervent 
prayer  of  the  righteous  man  that  availeth  much. 
He  must  be  righteous  and  his  righteousness  must 
be  on  fire  to  fulfil  the  Scripture  conditions.  That 
availing  power  is  something  more  than  retroac- 
tive; it  moves  the  arm  that  moves  the  world.  As 
this  is  a  moral  state  of  the  soul  within  the  circle  of 
its  sovereignty,  the  product  of  its  absolutely  free 
choice,  there  cannot  be,  as  I  have  shown,  any 
sure  prophecy  of  its  coming.  But  when  it  comes, 
all  barriers  are  burned  away.  Reserve  gives  place 
to  closest,  sympathetic  intimacy.  What  more  nat- 
ural, when  the  spirits  of  father  and  son  thus  meet 
and  mingle,  than  that  the  son,  care-cumbered  it 
may  be,  or  broken  with  grief,  or  baffled  in  pur- 
pose, though  battling  still,  should  pour  out  in  most 
impassioned  utterance  his  deep  and  noble  longings? 
Love  itself  would  so  prompt;  for  love  casteth  out 
fear,  is  the  very  essence  of  liberty.     Cautious  re- 

2f 


434  Appendix  [Lecture  VIII 

serve  cannot  live  in  its  atmosphere  of  holy  confi- 
dence. All  curtains  of  concealment  fall  instantly 
at  tlie  magic  touch  of  sympathy.  He  could  not 
keep  his  longings  back.  His  father's  tender  look 
and  tone  would  break  the  seals  of  silence,  would 
touch  his  lips  with  coals  of  fire.  The  thought  of 
trying  by  coaxing  to  melt  down  his  stern  reluc- 
tance is  utterly  foreign  to  such  a  scene,  repugnant 
to  such  a  state,  and  was  never  contemplated  in  the 
Gospel.  What  more  natural  than  that  God's  heart 
should  be  deeply  stirred  by  the  fervid  outflow  of 
such  a  passion  of  love  and  longing,  and  that  He 
should  by  direct  will-power  supply  the  deficiencies 
of  His  general  providence,  or  by  timely  suggestions 
reveal  its  resources,  and  place  them  in  reach  to  meet 
the  needs  of  such  a  soul  in  such  an  hour?"  —  Wil- 
liam W.  KixsLEY,  Old  Faiths  and  Neio  Facts  (New 
York,  Appletons,  189G),  pp.  81,  90-92. 

LECTURE   VIII 

Note  60.  Page  297.— "  We  can  make  this  clear  by 
considering  that  property,  private  property,  is  the 
condition  of  the  best  social  order.  The  best  social 
order  results  from  the  social  union  and  co-opera- 
tion of  the  highest  type  of  men  and  women ;  and 
the  highest  type  of  manhood  and  womanhood  can 
only  be  produced  when  men  and  women  have  the 
free  use  of  property.  Property  is,  indeed,  the  raw 
material  for  the  development  of  character.  It  is 
in  property,  Hegel  says,  that  my  will  is  made  real 
for  me  as  a  personal  will.     Property  is  the  concen- 


Lecture  VIII]  Appendix  435 

trated  form  of  power,  and  it  is  in  the  exercise  of 
power  that  my  will  is  trained  and  disciplined. 

"It  is  in  the  realm  of  property  rights  and  obliga- 
tions that  my  personality  is  largely  shaped.  Until 
I  have  learned  to  use  property  conscientiousl}''  and 
beneficently,  I  have  not  equipped  myself  for  the 
highest  service  of  my  fellow-men.  In  making  it 
the  instrument  of  promoting  human  welfare,  more 
than  in  any  other  possible  way,  I  socialize  my  own 
will,  and  prepare  myself  to  enter  into  helpful  rela- 
tions with  my  fellow-men.  I  cannot  learn  this 
lesson  in  the  use  of  property  which  I  hold  in  com- 
mon with  my  fellows.  It  must  be  my  own ;  I  must 
be  free  to  express  my  own  will  in  dealing  with  it; 
I  cannot  be  unselfish  in  the  use  of  that  which  is 
not  mine;  the  most  direct  and  effective  discipline 
in  unselfishness  is  that  which  is  gained  in  using 
private  propert}^  beneficently. 

"  The  fundamental  assumption  of  socialism  seems 
to  be  that  if  men  possess  private  property  they 
will  use  it  selfishly;  therefore,  the  socialists  say, 
we  will  have  no  private  property.  The  remedy 
would  not  be  effectual.  It  is  rather  difficult  to 
abolish  all  vestiges  of  private  property.  Hands 
and  feet  and  eyes  and  tongues  are  possessions  and 
instruments  not  easily  alienated,  and  those  who 
would  use  money  or  machinery  selfishly  would  be 
quite  sure  to  go  on  using  all  their  persoiial  powers 
in  the  same  way  after  they  were  divested  of  money 
and  machinery;  claws  and  fists  and  elbows  and 
teeth  would  still  be  private  property,  and  a  very 
unsocial  use  might  be  made  of  them.     Unless  the 


436  Appendix  [Lectuue  viii 

will  lias  been  socialized,  unless  men  have  learned 
how  to  use  all  their  powers  and  possessions  for  the 
common  welfare,  the  society  in  which  they  live  will 
bear  very  little  resemblance  to  heaven,  no  matter 
how  small  their  personal  belongings  may  be."  — 
Washington  Gladden,  Ruling  Ideas  of  the  Present 
Age  (Boston,  Houghton,  MifEin,  &  Co.,  1895),  pp. 
7C-79. 

Note  61.  Page  298.  —  "  Love  seeks  the  true  good 
of  the  person  loved.  It  will  not  minister  in  an 
unworthy  way  to  afford  a  temporary  pleasure.  It 
will  not  approve  nor  tolerate  that  which  is  wrong. 
It  will  not  encourage  the  coarse,  base  passions  of 
the  one  loved.  It  condemns  impurity,  falseness, 
selfishness.  A  parent,  we  say,  does  not  really 
love  his  child  if  he  tolerates  the  self-indulgence 
and  does  not  correct  or  punish  the  faults  of  the 
child.  Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend.  Love 
discriminates.  It  admires  only  that  which  is 
worthy  of  admiration.  It  cannot  consent  to,  much 
less  approve,  anything  unworthy  of  the  loved  one. 
The  more  love  the  more  condemnation  of  that 
which  is  unlovely.  What  has  been  said  of  the 
divine  love  is  true  of  human  love: 

'  The  very  wrath  from  pity  grew, 
From  love  of  men  the  hate  of  wrong.' 

Love  has  a  high  ideal  of  the  person  loved,  and 
is  devoted  to  the  attainment  of  that  ideal.  Love 
seeks  righteousness,  and  is  satisfied  with  nothing 
less  and  nothing  other  than  that. 

"  Should  not  one  be  seeking  the  same  things  for 


Lecture  VIIIJ  Appendix  437 

himself  that  he  seeks  for  others?  Shoukl  he  not 
have  the  same  ideal  for  himself?  Is  not  the  good- 
ness he  would  promote  in  a  friend  the  very  good- 
ness he  should  be  striving  to  promote  in  his. own 
character?  If  I  love  another,  I  seek  his  pei-fec- 
tion.  But  I  should  seek  my  own  perfection. 
Therefore  I  should  love  myself.  In  fact,  the  very 
best  way  to  promote  the  goodness  of  another  is  to 
cultivate  my  own  goodness.  To  be  of  the  right 
character  gives  the  power  and  the  only  power  of 
loving  and  serving  others.  Example  is  the  best 
service  love  can  render.  If  one  is  seeking  the 
wrong  things  for  himself,  he  cannot  be  seeking 
the  right  things  for  his  friend,  except  as  he  dis- 
approves his  own  wrongness,  and  is  a  warning  to 
his  friend.  Now  we  understand  self-love.  The 
representation  of  love  as  including  self  is  by  no 
means  a  far-fetched  and  circuitous  way  of  think- 
ing. In  the  complete  summary  of  moral  law,  a 
summary  which  is  almost  universally  accepted, 
two  great  principles  are  laid  down,  one  of  which 
gives  as  much  importance  to  self-love  as  to  love 
for  others,  and  even  makes  self-love  tlie  rule  and 
type  of  love  to  others.  '  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbour  as  thyself,'  is  the  second  of  two  great 
commandments  on  which  hang  all  the  moral  x)re- 
cepts  of  law-givers  and  prophets.  The  comparison 
has  respect,  not  to  quantity,  but  to  quality.  It  does 
not  mean  that  one  is  to  love  his  neighbour  as  much 
as  he  loves  himself,  that  he  is  to  give  just  as  much 
time,  thought,  care,  service,  to  his  neighbour  as  he 
gives  to  himself,  in  as  equal  division  as  possible. 


438  Appendix  [Lecture  VIII 

It  means  that  one  is  to  love  his  neighbour  in  the 
same  way  as  he  loves  himself,  in  the  same  manner, 
after  the  same  fashion,  with  the  same  objects  in 
view,  like  as  he  loves  himself.  It  is  not  the  'as  ' 
of  degree  but  the  'as '  of  kind.  As  thou  lovest 
thyself  so  shalt  thou  love  thy  neighbour.  The 
soul's  goods  one  seeks  for  himself  are  the  soul's 
goods  he  should  seek  for  his  neighbour.  Therefore 
one  must  love  himself  aright  in  order  to  love  his 
neighbour  aright.  According  to  this  comprehensive 
precept,  self-love  is  not  derived  from  love  to  others, 
but  love  to  others  gets  its  pattern  and  therefore  its 
measure  from  love  to  self.  This  is  as  distinct  a 
declaration  of  self-love  as  could  possibly  be  made, 
and  certainly  on  the  best  authority.  The  somewhat 
similar  precept  which  is  found  both  in  Christian 
and  in  Confucian  ethics,  — to  do  unto  others  as 
you  would  that  they  should  do  unto  you,  —  indi- 
cates the  right  every  one  has  that  others  should 
seek  his  good,  as  well  as  his  duty  to  seek  their  good, 
and  so  objectifies  self  as  needing  love  and  service. 
If  one  is  entitled  to  the  efforts  of  others  for  his 
good,  he  certainly  is  required  to  serve  himself  as  he 
would  have  others  serve  him  and  as  he  ought  to  serve 
them."  —  George  Harris,  Moral  Evolution  (Bos- 
ton, Houghton,  Mifflin,  «&  Co.,  1896),  pp.  138-141. 

Note  62.  Page  300.  — ■ "  For,  college  or  school,  uni- 
versity or  institute,  the  beneficiaries  of  every  en- 
dowed seat  of  learning  or  of  art  are  by  their  very 
relation  constituted  the  heirs  and  the  almoners  of 
a  great  fiduciary  trust. 


Lecture  VIIT]  Appendix  439 

"Ability  is  answerability  —  everywhere  and  all 
ways.  Private  possession,  all  possession  is  a  imblic 
trust!     Accountability  cannot  be  escaped. 

"There  are  two  sorts  of  souls.  Those  who  seek 
for  themselves  the  advantages  of  things  as  they 
are,  and  those  who  seek  to  give  themselves  to  the 
advantage  of  things  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  there- 
fore may  be  made  to  be;  those  who  accept  ad- 
vancement, and  those  who  confer  it;  those  who 
would  exploit  the  world,  and  those  who  would  save 
it,  —  benefactors  and  malefactors,  —  Christ  and  the 
thieves ! 

"Each  one  of  us,  to  the  extent  of  that  endow- 
ment which  God  gives  him,  is  a  legatee  that  he 
may  be  a  steward.  It  is  the  common  law  of  all 
trusts  that  they  cannot  be  delegated.  They  must  be 
executed  or  defaulted.  In  the  court  of  the  supreme 
surrogate,  many  a  will  constitutes  an  indictment. 

"And  what  is  true  in  the  stewardship  of  crass 
material  wealth  is  also  true  in  the  stewardship  of 
mental  and  administrative  ability.     Who  can,  must. 

"  The  sybarite  who  uses  an  elegant  and  fastidious 
leisure  in  purveying  to  mere  literary  taste,  who  is 
dainty  in  mere  editions,  a  glutton  in  books,  and 
who  in  the  seclusion  of  a  library  ignores  or  dis- 
dains the  woe  of  the  world,  makes  of  his  know- 
ledge a  toy  and  not  a  tool.     He,  too,  is  but  a  miser. 

"This  strenuous  age,  wherein  still  the  'people 
are  destroyed  for  lack  of  knowledge,'  demands  of 
us  our  all  and  our  best. 

"If  shadows  are  to  fall  from  the  truth,  and 
falsehood    die,   the    times  challenge  and  demand 


440  Appendix  [Lecture  VIII 

souls  who  shall  be  filled  with  the  instinct  of  help 
and  wear  on  helmet  and  brow  Icli  Dlen,  souls  ablaze 
with  that  love  which  ever  'seeketh  not  her  own/ 
and  who,  trained  for  resolute,  aggressive,  and 
undaunted  leadership,  are  exemplars  in  interpret- 
ing every  least  task  by  the  largest  ideals."  —  M. 
W.  Strykee,  Hamilton,  Lincoln,  and  Other  Ad- 
dresses (Utica,  1896),  "The  Stewardship  of  Know- 
ledge," pp.  96,  97. 

Note  63.  Page  304.  —  "  It  was  held  that  a  Chris- 
tian should  have  such  a  desire  for  the  glory  of  God 
that  he  should  be  willing  to  be  condemned  ever- 
lastingly if  it  would  promote  it.  The  futility  of 
such  a  supposition  is  seen  when  it  is  put  in  the 
form  of  this  question,  'Can  a  man  so  love  God  as 
to  be  willing,  for  any  end,  everlastingly  to  hate 
Him? '  These  are  such  unnatural  issues  that  it 
would  be  hard  to  prove  God  could  ever  propose 
them  to  intelligent  creatures,  or  intelligent  creat- 
ures realize  them  as  possible,  except  in  the  over- 
refinement  of  speculation." —  JoHx  Ker,  Sermons 
(Edinburgh,  Douglas,  1885),  pp.  103,  104. 

Note  64.  Page  305. —  "These  chapters  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Eomans  have  been,  by  scholastic 
theology,  put  to  uses  for  Avhich  they  were  never 
intended.  They  are  not  a  contribution  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  eternal  predestination  of  individu- 
als to  everlasting  life  or  death.  Their  theme  is 
not  the  election  of  individuals,  but  of  a  people. 
And  the  point  of  view  from  which  the  princij^le 


Lecture  VIII]  Appendix  441 

of  election  is  contemplated  is  historical.  The 
writer  treats  of  divine  choices  as  they  reveal  them- 
selves in  this  world  in  the  career  and  destiny  of 
nations.  But  still  more  important  is  it  to  note 
that  in  these  chapters  election  is  not  conceived  of 
as  an  arbitrary  choice  to  the  enjoyment  of  benefits 
from  which  all  others  are  excluded.  Election  is 
to  function  as  well  as  to  favour,  and  the  function 
has  the  good  of  others  besides  the  elect  in  view. 
As  the  Jews,  according  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
were  chosen  to  be  a  blessing  eventually  to  the 
Gentiles,  so,  according  to  the  apostle,  the  Gentile 
no-nations  were  chosen  in  turn  to  be  God's  people, 
for  their  own  good,  doubtless,  but  also  for  the  spir- 
itual benefit  of  the  temporarily  disinherited  Jews. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  that  this  view  is  in 
accordance  with  the  uniform  teaching  of  Scripture, 
and  very  specially  with  the  teaching  of  Christ,  in 
which  the  elect  appear  as  the  light,  the  salt,  and 
the  leaven  of  the  world.  It  is  a  vital  truth 
strangely  overlooked  in  elaborate  creeds  large 
enough  to  have  room  for  many  doctrines  much 
less  important,  and  far  from  sufficiently  recog- 
nized, as  yet,  even  in  the  living  faith  of  the 
Church,  though  the  missionary  spirit  of  modern 
Christianity  may  be  regarded  as  an  unconscious 
homage  to  its  importance." — Prof.  A.  B.  Bruce, 
St.  PauVs  Conception  of  Christianity  (New  York, 
Scribners,  1894),  pp.  321  fe. 

Note  65.     Page  306.  —  "Whatever  else   may  or 
may  not   be   taught   in  the  New  Testament,   the 


442  Appendix  [Lecture  VIII 

twofold  law  of  love  is  there  given  as  tlie  great 
commandment  of  the  old  dispensation,  and  enforced 
by  the  obedience  of  Christ  as  of  like  rank  in  the 
new;  as  authoritative  for  him  and  for  all  his. 
The  obligation  to  love  God  is  stated  explicitly 
enough.  The  command  to  love  our  neighbour,  like 
to  the  other  in  its  binding  force,  has  for  its  inter- 
pretation the  lifelong  sacrifice  by  which  Christ 
gave  for  the  world's  welfare  all  that  He  had  to 
give.  His  whole  business  on  earth  was  to  express 
that  perfect  love  for  God's  creatures  which  is  the 
obverse  of  His  perfect  love  for  God.  As  if  to 
guard  the  duty  of  beneficence  against  misappre- 
hension or  neglect,  He  not  only  taught  human  kind- 
ness as  in  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  but 
in  a  passage  of  prophecy  which  might  well  be  in 
the  ritual  of  every  church,  He  made  the  dread 
decisions  of  the  judgment  to  turn  not  on  doc- 
trine but  on  conduct,  not  on  the  moral  law  in 
general  but  on  the  law  of  beneficence  in  particu- 
lar. This  is  the  style  of  His  teaching  who  went 
about  doiug  good.  Well  might  Paul  sing  the 
psalm  of  'Charity,'  and  John  declare  that  God  is 
love. 

"If  the  law  of  love  has  such  implications  and 
such  tremendous  sanctions,  there  seems  to  be  no 
escape  from  the  proposition  that  every  man  ought 
to  do  his  absolute  utmost  for  the  well-being  of  his 
fellow-creatures."  —  James  P.  Kelley,  The  Law 
of  Service  (G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York,  1894), 
pp.  4,  5. 


Lecture  VIII]  Appendix  443 

"In  practice  under  the  law  we  have  set  forth, 
one  serves  God  and  himself,  by  serving  his 
fellow-creatures.  Worship,  like  the  expression 
of  filial  affection,  is  natural  and  spontaneous. 
Its  public  forms,  like  the  decorous  customs  of 
the  household,  are  determined  by  fitness  and  use- 
fulness. Its  architecture  and  accessories  are  not 
according  to  the  wealth  and  social  position  of 
the  worshipper,  but,  again,  are  for  fitness  and 
use,  and  are  limited  by  the  economies  of  ser- 
vice. Service  of  fellow-creatures  is  the  one 
business  and  study  of  life;  service  of  self  is  inci- 
dental or  indirect.  Giving  of  mind,  body,  and 
estate  is  the  normal  process,  the  daily  joy  of  life; 
inability  or  failure  to  give  it  its  chief  distress. 
Self-indulgence  beyond  rational  use  is  disrepu- 
table ;  private  display  is  both  ungenerous  and  vul- 
gar. Public  spirit,  with  all  that  it  implies,  is  the 
natural  atmosphere  of  the  life  of  Service;  public 
misfortune  a  personal  grief,  public  disgrace  a  per- 
sonal shame.  The  welfare  of  the  nation,  not  as  a 
jealous  competing  neighbour  of  other  states,  but  as 
a  generous  and  beneficent  member  of  the  common- 
wealth of  nations,  is  the  glory  and  pride  of  the 
Christian  citizen. 

"  The  world  is  grievously  afflicted.  The  church 
has  doctored  the  symptoms  of  its  ailment  empiri- 
cally, in  an  intermittent  and  emotional  way. 
According  to  the  law  of  service,  we  are  to  deal 
scientifically  with  the  disease  itself  by  radical  and 
constitutional  treatment.  The  springs  of  human 
life  must  be  cleansed,  its  processes  made  normal 


444  Appendix  [Lecture  VllI 

and  vigorous,  its  activities  reformed.  We  have 
reckoned  on  selfishness  as  the  motive  of  human 
action:  let  us  have  the  faith  and  courage  to  reckon 
on  love.  Self-seeking  competition  is  war  with  all 
its  miseries;  generous  service  is  peace  with  all  its 
blessings."  — /6i(Z.,  pp.  142,  143. 

Note  66.  Page  311. — "Christ  chose  a  small 
body  of  disciples  to  be  in  close  contact  with  Him- 
self, to  share  His  work,  and  to  receive  His  deeper 
teaching.  This  will  not  surprise  us  after  the 
analogies  of  the  prophets,  the  poets,  the  artists  of 
the  world.  The  saints,  too,  may  be  few,  and  God 
may  lend  their  spirits  out  for  the  good  of  others. 
But,  moreover,  in  the  first  formation  of  the  Church 
we  are  able  to  watch  the  process  of  limitation, 
as  historically  Avorked  out;  and  we  see  that  it 
arises  not  from  any  narrowness,  any  grudging  of 
His  blessings,  on  the  part  of  Christ,  but  from  the 
narrowness,  the  limitations  in  man.  Man  is 
'straitened '  not  in  God,  not  in  Christ,  but  in 
his  own  affections.  God  willed  all  men  to  be 
saved;  Christ  went  about  doing  good  and  calling 
all  to  a  change  of  heart,  to  a  share  in  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven ;  but  such  a  call  made  demands  upon  His 
hearers;  it  required  that  they  should  give  up  old 
prejudices  about  the  Messianic  kingdom,  that  they 
should  be  willing  to  leave  father  and  mother  and 
houses  and  lands  for  the  truth's  sake,  that  they 
should  lay  aside  all  the  things  that  defile  a  man, 
that  they  should  aim  at  being  perfect,  that  they 
should  not   only  hear  but  understand   the  word, 


Lecture  VIII]  Appendix  445 

that  they  should  trust  Him  even  when  His  sayings 
were  hard.  And  these  demands  produced  the  limi- 
tations. The  Pharisees  preferred  the  glory  of  men 
to  the  glory  which  came  from  God;  the  masses  in 
Galilee  cared  only  for  the  bread  that  perisheth; 
many  of  the  disciples  turned  back;  and  so  He 
could  not  commit  Himself  unto  them,  because  He 
knew  what  was  in  man.  Not  to  them,  not  to  any 
chance  person,  but  to  the  Twelve,  to  those  who  had 
stood  these  tests,  to  those  who  had,  in  spite  of  all 
perplexity,  seen  in  Him  the  Son  of  the  Living 
God,  to  them  He  could  commit  Himself;  they 
could  share  His  secrets;  they  could  be  taught 
clearly  the  certainty  and  the  meaning  of  His  com- 
ing death,  for  they  had  begun  to  learn  what 
self-sacrifice  meant;  they  could  do  His  work  and 
organize  His  Church;  they  could  bind  and  loose 
in  His  name;  they  could  represent  Him  when  He 
was  gone.  These  are  the  elect;  they  who  had  the 
will  to  listen  to  the  call;  they  who  were  'magnani- 
mous to  correspond  with  heaven ' ;  to  them  He 
gave  at  Pentecost  the  full  conscious  gift  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  so  at  last  formed  them  into  the 
Church,  the  Church  which  was  to  continue  His 
work,  which  was  to  convey  His  grace,  which  was 
to  go  into  the  whole  world,  holding  this  life  as  a 
treasure  for  the  sake  of  the  whole  world,  praying 
and  giving  thanks  for  all  men,  because  the  unity 
of  God  and  the  unity  of  the  mediation  of  Christ 
inspires  them  Avith  hope  that  all  may  be  one  in 
mm.''  — Lux  Mundi,  pp.  372,  373. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  Christicoi 
Thought,  410  note  ;  The 
Evolution  of  Christianity, 
417  note. 

Absolutism,  difficulties  of,  263. 

Ackerman,  'L.,Ma  Vie,  quoted, 
250. 

Acts,  The,  of  the  Apostles,  G2. 

Adam,  a  new,  286. 

Adams,  Professor,  12. 

Aiden,  312. 

Altruism,  37,  38. 

Ambrose  of  Milan,  101. 

iVmerica,  the  new  crusade  in, 
37. 

Ananias,  100. 

Antoninus  Pius,  104. 

Aquinas,  Thomas,  50,  141. 

Aristotle,  73. 

Arius,  110. 

Armstrong,  Prof.  A.  C,  Jr.,34. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  19. 

Art,  Christ  in,  128;  early 
Christian,   128. 

Atonement,  the  value  of  the, 
1(52. 

Authority  is  what  the  age  de- 
mauds,  198, 


Balfour,  Hon.  A.  J.,  A  De- 
fence of  Philosophic  Doubt, 
48, 325,  340,  342  notes ;  Foun- 
dations of  a  Belief,  52. 

Baptized  fatalism,  217. 

Barry,  Alfred,  Some  Lights 
of  Science  on  the  Faith,  68, 
371  note. 

Baudelaire,  Charles,  18,  29. 

Baxter,  Richard,  50. 

Beauchamp,  Henry,  Thoughts 
of  an  Automaton,  210. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  73. 

Berthelot,  M.,  13. 

Bettelheim,  Anton,  Cosmopo- 
lis,  334  note. 

Beyschlags,  Nexo  Testament 
Theology,  62,  359,  396,  399, 
416  notes. 

Bible :  bending  the  Bible  to  fit 
definitions,  132. 

Biblical  scholarship  {modern), 
143. 

Boniface,  312. 

Bourget,  Paul,  Psychologic 
Contemporaine,  5  note,  17, 
28,  30,  324  7Wte,  333  note; 
Cosmopolis,  17. 


447 


448 


Index 


Bradford,  Amory  H.,  Hered- 
ity and  Christian  Prob- 
lems, 74,  353  note,  411  note. 

Brain,  the  organ  of  the  mind, 
221. 

Brainerd,  David,  79. 

Brooks,  Bishop,  54 ;  Sermon 
for  Trinity  Sunday,  112. 

Browning,  Kobert,  33;  Saul, 
quoted,    164. 

Bruce,  Prof.  A.  B.,  St.  PauVs 
Conception  of  Christianity, 
440  note;  The  Humiliation 
of  Christ,  134 ;  Kingdom  of 
God,  176,  181. 

Bushnell,  Horace,  The  Divin- 
ity of  Christ,  125. 

Butler,  Bishop,  7,  8  no^e,50. 

Byzantine  art,  130. 

Calvary  is  victory,  278. 

Calvin,  John,  50,  73,  305. 

Calvinism,  241. 

Candlish,  Dr.  James  ^.,  King- 
dom of  God,  176. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  16;  Heroes, 
86  note. 

Catacombs,  pictures  of  Christ 
in,  129. 

Cayley,  Professor,  12. 

Chalcedon,  155. 

Charity,  the  new,  170;  true, 
299. 

Chillingworth,  William,  50. 

Christ,  Gospel  of,  54 ;  the  per- 
son of,  58 ;  the  reality  of, 
58;  was  his  own  Gospel,  GO; 
the  life  of  the  Church  flowed 
from,  62;  the  influence  of 
Christianity  came  from,  64 ; 
the  magic  of  His  name  64 ; 


the  personal  power  of  Christ 
continues,  66;  the  central 
figure  of  Christianity,  66; 
the  mystery  of,  69;  the 
effect  of  His  presence,  70; 
unique,  72;  solitary  in  his- 
tory, 73;  sinless,  74;  the 
power  of  His  cross,  76;  to 
know  Him  the  one  thing 
needful,  78;  the  answer  to 
sceptics,  87;  the  creator  of 
Christianity,  88;  who  then 
is  Christ,  89;  the  historic 
answer,  90 ;  Godhead  slowly 
revealed,  90 ;  a  supreme  au- 
thority to  judge  the  world, 
95;  the  Son  of  God,  96;  the 
new  theology,  105 ;  a  per- 
sonal revelation  of  the  Di- 
vine Being,  106;  His  life 
without  admitting  His  di- 
vinity, 118 ;  divine  love,  120 ; 
is  God  with  us,  121 ;  hu- 
manity, 126 ;  in  art,  128 ; 
portraits  of,  129;  portrait, 
Byzantine,  130 ;  hiding  the 
face  of,  132 ;  manhood  a  vest- 
ure, 138;  of  the  Gospels, 
144;  of  the  Epistles,  145; 
the  new  study  of,  154 ;  find- 
ing of  the  human  Christ, 
164  ;  teaching,  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  the  keynote  of, 
174;  the  doctrine  of,  182; 
record  of  His  teaching,  184 ; 
w^ords  and  life  interpret  each 
other,  186;  teaching,  the 
authority  of,  189;  teaching, 
the  originality  of,  190; 
teaching,  universal,  193 ; 
doctrine  small  in  compass, 


Index 


449 


193;  doctrine  never  fails, 
194 ;  the  simplicity  that  is  in 
His  teaching,  196;  loyalty 
to  His  teaching,  197 ;  the  su- 
preme authority,  199;  our 
great  task  to  learn  his  creed, 
200 ;  says  liberty  is  real,  226  ; 
His  preaching  a  Gospel  of 
liberty,  227 ;  is  God's  call  to 
faith,  232 ;  on  heredity,  233 ; 
our  helper,  236 ;  doctrine  of 
election,  305 ;  parables,  307 ; 
ideal,  310. 

Christhood,  what  is  meant  by 
the,  92. 

Christian  leadership,  need 
of,  38 ;  belief,  the  new  line 
of,  92;  doctrine  and  the 
Deity  of  Christ,  108 ;  view 
of  God  and  world,  361 
note ;  preacher,  the  duty 
of,  316. 

Christianity  and  Christ,  59; 
the  rock  of,  119;  practical, 
171 ;  evidences  of,  192 ;  and 
communism,  297. 

Christians  despised  for  wor- 
shipping Christ,  104. 

Christless  man  can  never 
preach    Christ,  202. 

Christology,  modern  examples 
of  false,  136. 

Clarke,  Samuel,  50. 

Clerk-Maxwell,  Professor,  12. 

Clifford,  W.  K.,  15,  30,  208. 

College  settlements,  38. 

Columba,  312. 

Conscience,  the  indomitable, 
35. 

Couperus,  Louis,  Destiny,  213. 

Crassus,  73. 

2g 


Creed,  The,  of  Christ,  200;  of 

necessity,  212. 
Crispi,  Signor,  34. 
Crosby,     Howard,    The    True 

Humanity  of  Christ,  quoted, 

155. 
Cross:  power  of  the  cross  of 

Christ,  76. 
Crusade  against  scepticism,  37. 
Cudworth,  Ralph,  50. 

Darwin,  the  testimony  of  a 
doubter,  67. 

Deity  of  Christ,  the  strength 
of  the  Gospel,  122. 

De  Fvessejise,  Jesus  Christ,  162. 

Desjardins,  Paul,  18,  27,  36. 

Determinism  proved,  218. 

Devout  men  of  pure  science, 
12. 

Disciple,  The,  must  be  as  his 
Lord,  306. 

Discrimination,  2(i0. 

Divine,  The,  Orderliness,  255; 
immanence,  255;  omnipo- 
tence self-limited  in  action, 
265 ;  omniscience,  268. 

Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  The, 
355  note. 

Doctrine  of  Christ,  the  basis  of 
His  conduct,  187 ;  attacked, 
7. 

Dogmas  darken  the  view  of 
Christ,  131. 

Dogmatic  theology  and  mod- 
ern doubt,  50. 

Dogmatics,  renaissance  of,  51. 

Dorner,  History  of  Protestant 
Theology,  '61%note. 

Doubt  not  a  crime  but  a 
malady,  23. 


450 


Index 


Doubting  age,  6. 

Du  Bois,  Reymoud,  13. 

Du  Maurier,  George,  18. 

Earth,  militant  on,  268. 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  50,  218, 
305. 

Election,  the  doctrine  of,  302; 
perverted  in  human  theol- 
ogy, 304. 

Eliot,  George,  17,  25. 

Emerson,  16. 

Endurance,  strength  of,  275. 

English  sceptics,  25. 

Ephrem  Syrus,  101,  133. 

Epistles,  The,  of  Paul,  62. 

Erasmus,  quoted  in  Gore,  142. 

Everlasting,  The,  Realltij  of 
Religion,  329  note. 

Evil,  origin  of  evil  not  in  God, 
266;  power  of,  272;  strug- 
gle against,  274. 

Fairbairn,  A.  M.,  The  Place 
of  Christ  in  Modern  The- 
ology, 51,  153,  357  note,  364 
note,  393  note. 

Faith  not  changed  but  en- 
larged, 10 ;  sorrow  of  losing, 
25 ;  the  renaissance  of,  33 ; 
a  starting-point  for,  53 ;  the 
original  process  of,  91 ;  three 
vital  points  made  plain  to 
faith,  151 ;  these  points  de- 
fended, 152. 

False  interpretations  of 
Christ's  teaching,  175. 

Fatalism,  modern,  206. 

Felicity,  the  secret  of,  293. 

Ferrers,  Professor,  12. 

Fiction,  gloomy,  17. 


Fisher,  Prof.  G.  P.,  219; 
Grounds  of  Theistic  and 
Christian  Belief,  62  note, 
424  note. 

Fiske,  John,  247 ;  Destiny  of 
Man,  326  note  ;  Idea  of  God, 
327  note. 

Fitzgerald,  Edward,  Rubdiydt 
of  Omar  Khayyam,  quoted, 
217. 

Flaubert,  29 ;  Madame B ovary, 
17. 

Foreknowledge,  269. 

Foster,  John,  5. 

France,  new  crusade  in,  36. 

Fraternity  better  than  equal- 
ity, 296. 

Free-will,  219;  is  possible,  225. 

French  sceptics,  27. 

Froude,  16. 

Gibbon,  Edward,  Roman  Em- 
pire, 83. 

Gilder,  Richard  Watson,  quo- 
tation,  79. 

Gladden,  Washington,  Ruling 
Ideas  of  the  Present  Age, 
434  7iote. 

God  seen  through  Christ,  107 ; 
a  personal,  117;  the  true 
view  of,  160;  is  love,  161; 
suffers  with  and  for  us,  162; 
helps  those  who  help  them- 
selves, 238;  the  Father,  our 
Captain,  251;  in  His  world, 
254;  reign  of  God  through 
law,  258 ;  is  a  fair  master, 
265;  the  rock  of  our  trust, 
273;  in  history,  276;  and 
truth,  277 ;  is  God  unjust,  302. 

Godet,  154. 


Index 


451 


God's  sympathy,  doubts  dis- 
solve in  the  thought  of,  1G3 ; 
sovereignty,  two  spheres  of, 
267. 

Goodness,  power  of,  272. 

Gordon,  Charles,  79. 

Gordon,  Dr.  George  A.,  The 
Trinity  the  Ground  of  Hu- 
manity, 112;  Christ  of  To- 
day, 52,  342  note,  374  7iote. 

Gore,  Canon  C.  C,  135,  13G; 
The  Incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God,  134,  351  7iote,  366 
note ;  Dissertations,  384 
note,  427  note. 

Gospel,  The,  of  a  Person, 
43;  message  clear  as  light, 
53;  of  a  fact,  55;  of  a 
force,  59;  of  a  Saviour, 
75 ;  of  the  Incarnation 
adapted  to  this  age,  113; 
A.,  for  the  whole  circle  of 
human  life,  173 ;  the  fourth, 
178. 

Gospels:  the  four  Gospels 
must  be  studied,  177. 

Greer,  David  H. ,  The  Preacher, 
322  710^6. 

Gregory  the  Great,  102. 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  104. 

Happiness  depends  upon  our 
inward  state,  289 ;  the  secret 
of,  290. 

Hardy,  Thomas,  17 ;  Jude  the 
Obscure,  30. 

Harris,  S.,  The  Self -Revela- 
tion of  God,  51. 

Harris,  George,  Moral  Evolu- 
tion, 436  note. 

Harrison,  Frederic,  15. 


Hartmaun,  24,  33;  Religions- 
philosophie  Selbstersetzung 
des  Christenthums,  33 ; 
Philosophic  des  Unbewuss- 
ten,  34. 

Havelock,  Henry,  79. 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  283. 

Hazard,  230. 

Hazzard,  Rowland,  Freedom 
of  Mind  in  Willing,  219. 

Heathen,  testimony  of  the, 
103;  writers,  103. 

Heaven,  triumphant  in,  268. 

Hebrews,  the  epistle  to  the, 
149. 

Hennell,  Charles,  Inquh^ 
Concerning  the  Origin  of 
Christianity,  25. 

Heredity  not  final,  222. 

Hilary  of  Poictiers,  101. 

Historical  Christ,  58. 

Hitchcock,  Rev.  Dr.  Roswell 
D.,  A  Complete  Analysis  of 
the  Holy  Bible,  176. 

Hodge,  Charles,  50. 

Hodge,  A.  A.,  Popular  Lect- 
ures, 241. 

Holy  Spirit,  The,  236. 

Homoousia,  155. 

Hooker,  Richard,  50. 

Horton,  R.  F.,  Verbum  Dei, 
322  ?iote. 

Human,  The,  Life  of  the 
Father,  81;  Life  in  God, 
125. 

Humanity,  a  new  relation  to, 
94. 

Hutton,  R.  H.,  27;  Contem- 
porary Thought  and  Think- 
ers, 417  note. 

Huxley,  T.  H.,  15 ;  quoted,  208. 


452 


Index 


Hymns  of  the  Greek  Church, 

101 ;  the  testimony  of,  101. 
Hypnotized,  the  age,  211. 

Ibsen's  plays,  27  note  ;  Ghosts, 
214. 

Ignatius,  Epistles  of,  to  the 
Trallians,  oil  note. 

Illingworth,  J.  R.,  Personality 
Human  and  Divine,  344 
note,  358. 

Incarnation,  The,  114, 115 ;  his- 
torically consistent,  118 ; 
satisfies  the  human  heart, 
120;  old  definitions  inade- 
quate, 156. 

Inequality  in  the  spiritual 
world,  301. 

Influence  of  Fiction,  ^'62  note. 

Inspiration  of  heroism,  274. 

Irenaeus,  quoted,  94,  376  note. 

Jackson,  Dr.  J.  Hughlings,  Dis- 
eases of  Nervous  System, 121. 

James,  William,  Psychology, 
224,  230,  413  note,  414  note. 

Jesus,  search  after,  141 ;  secret 
of,  258;  the  new  Adam,  287. 

Jesus  Christ's  doctrine  small 
in  compass,  193. 

John,  100. 

Jonson,  Ben,  73. 

Joy  is  a  duty,  293. 

Judas,  99. 

Justin  Martyr,  First  Apology, 
quoted,  104;  Dialogue  loith 
Trypho,  65  riote. 

Kant,  210. 

Kelley,  James  P.,  The  Law  of 
Service,  441  note,  443  note. 


Kelvin,  Lord  (Sir  William 
Thomson),  12,  220. 

KemiMs,  Thomas  a,  79;  Imi- 
tation of  Christ,  66. 

Kenosis,  the,  147. 

Kepler,  12. 

Ker,  John,  Sermons,  440  note. 

Kidd,  Mr.  Benjamin,  Social 
Evolution,  34. 

Kinship  of  man  to  God,  159. 

Kingdom,  The,  of  heaven  the 
keynote  of  Christ's  teach- 
ing, 174. 

Kingsley,  Charles,  79. 

Kinsley,  William  W.,  Old 
Faiths  and  Nev)  Facts,  431 
7iote. 

Knowledge,  the  expansion  of, 
11. 

Lacordaire,  Pere,  53. 

La  Farge,  John,  Considera- 
tions on  Painting,  376  note. 

Laplace,  247. 

Latham,  Henry,  Pastor  Pas- 
torum,  61. 

Lentulus,  Epistle  of,  129. 

Lesson  of  encouragement  in 
sufferings  of  doubt,  24. 

Liberty,  sovereignty,  and  ser- 
vice, 206. 

Liberty,  207. 

Liddon,  Canon,  53 ;  Divinity 
of  Our  Lord,  138. 

Life,  sad  aspect  of,  27 ;  the 
regnant  idea,  157;  the  un- 
evenuess  and  apparent  in- 
justice of  human  life,  284; 
the  compensation  of,  291. 

Lightfoot,  Bishop,  Supernal- 
ural  Religion,  62  note. 


Index 


453 


Lincoln,  A.,  118. 

Lisle,  Leconte  de,  18. 

Literature  as  an  index  of  life, 
4;  mirror  of,  and  the  shad- 
ow of  doubt,  15. 

Littre,  Emile,  22. 

Liturgies,  testimony  of  early, 
102. 

Liturgy  of  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Church,  103. 

Lombard,  Peter,  134,  141. 

Lombroso,  45. 

Lord,  The,  of  Hosts,  270. 

Loti,  Pierre,  La  Galilee,  73 
note,  190. 

Love,  Christ's  divine  love, 
120;  is  the  example  of 
Christ,  161 ;  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself,  298. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  The 
Present  Crisis,  quoted,  278. 

Loyalty  to  Christ's  teaching, 
197. 

Lucian,  104. 

Luther,  73. 

Lux  Mxtndi,  323  note,  363, 
367,  444  note. 

Mabie,  H.  W.,  Essays  on  Nat- 
ure and  Culture,  255. 

McCabe,  L.  D.,  Divine  Nesci- 
ence, 428  note. 

McCheyne,  Robert,  79. 

Man,  meanness  of,  28;  to  God, 
kinship  of,  159;  weakness 
of,  234. 

Man's  inhumanity  to  man,  285. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  104. 

Martyn,  Henry,  79. 

Materialism  disavowed  but 
taught,  207. 


Maupassant,  Guy  de,  17, 
215. 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  23. 

Melancholia,  30. 

Melancholy  marionettes,  215. 

Melancthon,  73. 

Metaphysical  negation,  14. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  Essays  on  Religion, 
72  note. 

Miracles  not  against  nature, 
257. 

Misery,  source  of  human,  not 
in  poverty,  but  in  a  bad 
heart,  290. 

Misoneism,  45. 

Missionary  zeal,  312. 

Missions  essential  to  Chris- 
tianity, 311 ;  and  the  early 
church,  312;  keep  the  Gos- 
pel pure,  312. 

Momerie,  A.  W.,  Personality, 
346  note. 

Moody,  Dwight  L,,  54. 

Moral  problem,  205 ;  judg- 
ments assume  liberty,  223. 

INIorley,  John,  16. 

INIoxom,  Philip  S.,  From  Jer- 
usalem to  Nicxa,  370  note. 

Mozley,  J.  B.,  Ruling  Ideas  in 
Early  Ages,  425  note. 

Mulford,  The  Rejmblic  of  God, 
51. 

Miiller,  Julius,  153. 

Munger,  T.  T.,  The  Freedom 
of  Faith,  401  note. 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  26,  46;  Sci- 
ence and  a  Future  Life, 
337  note,  339  note. 

Napoleon,  73. 
Newton,  12. 


454 


Index 


Nordeau,  Max,  Degeneration, 
45,  404  note. 

Novels,  modern,  5 ;  of  natu- 
ralism, IT. 

Offices  of  the  Church,  63. 

Oriental  religions,  238. 

Orr,  James,  The  Christian 
Vieiv  of  God  and  the  World, 
34,  51,  336  710^6,  395  note. 

Our  great  task  to  learn  His 
creed,  200. 

Owen,  John,  50. 

Pagan  poets,  33. 

Pain,  24;  gives  argument  to 

hope,  31. 
Paley,  Dr.,  10. 
Parables  of  Christ,  307. 
Pascal,  28,  36. 
Patience,  rewarded  in  the  life 

to  come,  295. 
Patteson,  Coleridge,  79. 
Peace  on  earth,  292. 
Pearson,  C.  H.,  The  Causes  of 

Pessimism,  409  7iote ;   iVa- 

tional  Life  and  Character, 

337  note. 
Personal  equation  of  the  age,  3. 
Personality  the  foundation  of 

all  sensation,  56. 
Personal  responsibility,  208. 
Pessimism,  21. 
Peter,  100. 
Pharisees,  The,   taught   fate, 

228. 
Philosophy,  the  value  of,   to 

Christian  preacher,  49. 
Physiognomy  of  the  age,  6. 
Plato,  73. 
Pliny  the  Younger,  86,  103. 


Poetry,  despondent,  18. 

Pompey,  73. 

Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  quoted, 
252. 

Portraits  of  Christ,  129. 

Prayer,  235 ;  of  intercession, 
309. 

"Preach  Christ,"  169;  what 
does  it  mean,  172. 

Preacher,  The,  who  wishes  to 
speak  to  this  age  must  read 
many  books,  6 ;  how  can  he 
serve  the  present  age,  43; 
first  and  greatest  duty  to 
preach  Christ,  55. 

Preachers  of  Christ,  the  needs 
of,  239 ;  to  proclaim  liberty 
in  Christ,  242. 

Preaching  with  power,  53 ;  the 
Gospel  for  an  age  of  doubt, 
314. 

Predestination,  232. 

Prime,  W.  G.,  Along  Neio  Eng- 
land Roads,  420  note. 

Probation  of  men,  270. 

Prohlematische  Naturen,  17. 

Psychical  research,  46. 

Psychological  romances,  17 ; 
problem,  205. 

Psychology,  testimony  of  mod- 
ern, 224. 

Purves,  Rev.  G.  T.,  The  In- 
carnation Biblically  Con- 
sidered, 415  note. 

Questioning  spirit  of  to-day,  8. 

Rationalism,   thorough-going, 

48. 
Reading,  value  of  general,  5. 
Redemption,  237. 


Index 


455 


Reformation,  spirit  of,  14:2, 
Religion  of  the   IJyidergradu- 

ate,  326  note. 
Renan,  16,  29,  39. 
Resurrection  of  Christ,  98. 
Reubelt,  Scripture  Doctrine  of 

the  Person   of  Christ,   379 

note,  381  note,  384  note,  386 

note. 
Revelation,  a  new,  191. 
Robertson,  Frederick,  79. 
Rod,   M.  Edouard,  34;  Idees 

Morales  du  Temps  Present, 

403  note. 
Romanes,    George    John,    12 

note,  34,  114. 
Routh,  Professor,  12. 
Ruskiu,  John,  258. 
Russian  sceptics,  30. 
Rutherford,  Samuel,  79. 

Saints,  Anselm,  50;  Athana- 
sius,  109;  Augustine,  32, 
50,  111,305,312;  Sermons 
on  the  New  Testament 
Lessons,  392  note. 

Bernard,  79. 

Chrysostom,  53 ;  the  prayer 
of,  103,  1,33. 

Clement,  First  Epistle  of, 
quoted,  107. 

Dominic,  .312. 

Francis  of  Assisi,  53,  79, 
312. 

James,  liturgy  of,  102. 

John,  53;  the  kingdom  in, 
178;   Gospel  of  love,  181. 

Mark,  liturgy  of,  102. 

Patrick,  312. 

Peter,  .53. 

Paul,  53,  78,  307;   view  of 


Christ,  146;  Epistle  of 
Christ's  brotherhood,  148; 
on  freedom,  240. 

Saints  called  to  endure  heavy 
trials,  274. 

Salmon,  Dr.,  Introduction  to 
the  JYeio  Testament,  62  note. 

Saul  of  Tarsus,  99. 

Savonarola,  53. 

Scepticism,  causes  of,  9;  at- 
tributed to  the  growth  of 
our  conception  of  the  phy- 
sical magnitude  of  the  uni- 
verse, 11 ;  in  modern  litera- 
ture, 24. 

Sceptic's  account  of  the  spread 
of  Christianity,  83. 

Scherer,  16. 

Schopenhauer,  24. 

Science  and  religion,  9;  not 
hostile  to  religion,  9;  arro- 
gance of,  falsely  so-called, 
12 ;  the  boundaries  of,  247. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  6. 

Scudder,  Vida  D.,  The  Life  of 
the  Spirit  in  Modern  Eng- 
lish Poets,  33. 

"  Sea  Dreams,"  by  Tennyson, 
quoted,  20. 

Sermons,  lay,  15. 

Sermon  on  the  Mount,  93. 

Service,  283;  the  keynote  of 
the  kingdom,  308. 

Shairp,  John  Campbell,  quota- 
tion, 202. 

Shakespeare,  73. 

Shedd,  Dr.  W.  G.  T.,  50;  Dog- 
matic Theology,  137. 

Shelley,  quoted,  16,  25. 

Signs  of  reaction,  33;  of  the 
times,  39. 


456 


Index 


Simplicity,  The,  that  is  in 
Christ,  196. 

Sin  is  the  work  of  an  enemy, 
267. 

Sinlessness  of  Christ,  74, 

Social  regeneration,  300. 

Socrates,  73. 

Source,  The,  of  Authority, 
167. 

Source,  The,  of  authority  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  169. 

Sovereignty,  247 ;  the  ques- 
tion of,  249;  mechanical, 
260;  embraces  liberty,  271. 

Spielhagen,  17. 

Spirit,  the  questioning,  7. 

Stalker,  James,  Imago  Christi, 
195  note. 

Stendhal,  Rouge  et  Noir,  29. 

Stephen,  the  martyr,  99. 

Stephen,  Sir  J.  Fitzjames,  Lib- 
erty, Equality,  and  Frater- 
nity, 55,  .343  note. 

Stevens,  George  B.,  The  Paul- 
ine Theology,  65  note,  100, 
352  note. 

Stokes,  Sir  George,  12. 

Strauss,  David  Friedrich,  32 
note. 

Stryker,  M.  W.,  Hamilton, 
Lincoln,  and  other  ad- 
dresses, 438  note. 

Sully,  James,  24  note ;  Pessi- 
mism, 332  7iote. 

Sympathy  with  doubt,  22 ;  of 
the  age,  284. 

Synoptics,  The,  178. 

Taine,  29. 

Tait,  Professor,  12. 

Talbot's  Analysis,  176. 


Tennyson,  quoted,  19,  33 ;  The 
Higher  Pantheism,  quoted, 
159. 

Theological  fortiiication,  49; 
problem,  205. 

Theology,  the  future  of,  51 ; 
current  theology  at  fault, 
150 ;  has  lost  sight  of  Christ's 
humanity,  126. 

Thomson,  James,  The  City  of 
Dreadful  Night,  31. 

Thomson,  Dr.  W.  H.,  Material- 
ism and  Modeim  Physiology 
of  the  Nervous  System,  221. 

Thompson,  Joseph  P.,  The 
Theology  of  Christ  from 
His  own  Woixls,  397  note. 

Three  great  problems,  205; 
great  truths,  206. 

Todhunter,  Professor,  12. 

Trask,  Katrina,  A  Night  and 
Morning  in  Jerusalem,  quot- 
ed, 185. 

Trinity,  111 ;  the  doctrine  of, 
108. 

Truth,  a  new  power  to  reveal, 
93. 

Tyudall,  Professor,  15,  208. 

Unbelief,  respectful,  8. 
Universe,  the  magnitude  of,  11. 
Unveiling,  The,  of  the  Father, 
83. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  Poetry  of 

Tennyson,  33. 
Virgin  Mary,  worship  of,  140. 

Wagner,  Charles,  13  note. 
Ward,  Mrs.  Humphry,  Robert 

Elsmere,  17,  30. 
Warner,  Charles  Dudley,  215 ; 


Index 


457 


Fatalism  in  Modern  Fiction, 
408  7iote. 

Weiss,  Bernhard,  Lehrhuch 
der  Biblischen  Theologie 
des  Neuen  Testaments,  188, 
400  note. 

Wesley,  John,  53. 

Westcott,  Bishop,  IGl;  The 
Incarnation  and  Common 
Life,  301;  The  Gospel  of 
Life,  347  note  ;  Commentary 
on  the  Epistle  of  St.  John, 
387  note. 

Whitfield,  George,  53. 


Wilberforce,  Archdeacon,  The 
Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation, 
136. 

Wordsworth,  73 ;  Ode  to  Duty, 
quoted,  242. 

Words  of  eternal  life,  197. 

World,  The,  thatis  to  come,293. 

Young,  John,  The  Christ  of 
History,  349  note. 

Zeitgeist,  3. 

Zola,  Emile,  17,  223;  La  Bete 
Humaine,  213. 


y6 


